Here's to Us
by starkiddarrenglee
Summary: A silly love story I imagined involving the actors in Team StarKid. This is a RPF and nope, I don't really think any of this actually happened! This is just my interpretation of the StarKid's personas and expanded them so the character's aren't partial. That and a touch of what I picture a cute lighthearted college love story could be like and BAM! "Here's to Us" was born! Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

"Hey Jaime, Julia, wait up!" Lauren called as she jogged out of the Walgreen Drama Center and into the parking lot to catch up with her friends. Everyone was slowly making their way back to their apartments and dorms after the closing of the final showing of "Harry Potter the Musical."

Jaime and Julia paused as Lauren caught up. Jaime laughed as Julia mocked little Lauren's fluster to reach them. "Hurry up, short stuff, we thought you already left. We've got a lot to do and basically no time to do it."

Lauren nudged Julia playfully when she finally caught them. "Sorry, Joe and Dylan were taking turns putting the Draco wig on earlier and I remembered last minute that we never put it back in the box, so I had to run backstage after closing meeting and do that."

Julia responded jokingly, "Ha, you and your boys, always messing around. You've got those two on a string and are just yo-yoing them up and down!"

"Am not!" Lauren exclaimed, pretending to be offended. "They just are immature and think it's funny to mess with me."

Jaime joined in "Well, we will see tonight if anything interesting happens!" All three girls giggled and got back down to business.

"Right, tonight! What's the plan now till then?" Lauren asked excitedly.

Julia looked down at her watch. "It's almost 10 now, and Darren and the Langs said to meet at their apartment around 11, so we should get there say, 11:15? That gives us almost an hour and a half back at my place to get put our things down, finish getting the stage makeup off, and change into our party attire before heading over."

"Perfect" Jaime agreed. "We gotta look extra awesome tonight, ladies," Lauren began "it's the cast party for the closing of our final play here at U of M. The last cast party with us girls and those guys. The end of an era, if you will. It's actually… pretty sad. I'm gonna miss this. Miss us, you know?"

The mood suddenly became solemn, but Julia got them back in line "C'mon, Laur, that's just all the more reason to go out with a bang. This may have been the last play with our friends, but that doesn't mean we will stop being friends. And I mean, you never know. Maybe some day we will all come together again. We could do a sequel to the Potter show or something. Ha, that'd be great. Then we could actually incorporate, like, Umbridge and stuff. What I mean is, don't look at this as the end. Graduation and all of this… it's what is preparing us for our future. It's making us who we are. And in my opinion, us and all our friends… we are fuckin' amazing!"

They all laughed and took in Julia's inspirational yet perspective-setting speech. "Geez, Juls, you outta write books or something. At least add that shit to your blog!" Lauren said playfully as they arrived at Julia's apartment building. Julia unlocked the door and held it open as her friends made their way in. "You know me, Oprah is my queen and Dr. Phil is my king. Inspirational people rock my world."

They finally arrived in Julia's apartment. Jaime and Lauren pulled their outfit options out of their bags and made themselves comfortable on Julia's bed as she brought out her potential outfit pieces for the evening. They ran through and swapped clothes until each girl had her outfit confirmed. After Jaime helped Lauren make her decision on a cute pair of heels to borrow from Julia, the girls began their transformations from a 'post-show-leftover-makeup-drabby-sweats' look to a 'classy-and-gorgeous-but-not-overly-done' party look. As they applied makeup and did each other's hair they gossiped and came up with scenarios for possible turns the evening might take. Overall they came to agree on one thing: no matter what, this night had to be one for the books.

—

Darren was running around his apartment in nothing but boxers and an unbuttoned shirt, switching back and forth between getting things set up and getting himself ready. After leaving the theater late, it was already 10:50 and he had loads to do. The Lang brothers were setting up a beer pong table in the living room and Jim Povolo was on his computer working on a party playlist for the evening, occasionally calling out song titles for approval from anyone listening.

Matt called out to Darren "When's Walker getting here? He has the rest of the tequila!" Darren responded in a rush as he scrambled from the kitchen to his bedroom while trying to button up his shirt. "Not sure, him and Joey should be next-door though. Joey went straight to Walker's place after closing meeting to help sort out drinks. They said they'd be here at 10:30 but that didn't happen. Fuck, we should charge them a tardiness fee for screwing with our plans!"

The door burst open as Joe Walker and Joey Richter each carried in a couple bags of drinks. "That won't be necessary, gentlemen, we have arrived." Walker called out for all to hear. "But good suggestion, Darren, you keep on thinking." Joey added sarcastically.

"Sweet, you're here. Now you can get all the chips and dips out after you unload the drinks." Darren authoritatively called out from his room. "Aye, aye, cap'n!" Walker eagerly proclaimed as he and Joey shuffled around the kitchen. "And get the stick out of your ass, man, tonight is gonna be fun!"

"Dude, I know, today's been great and I know tonight will be even better, I just am freakin out all over the place. I'm sure I'll calm down when guests arrive. Pre-party jitters I guess." Darren burst from his room and slid across the floor to go rearrange some furniture in the living room so that there was more room for moving around and party games.

"Who all will be here?" Jim asked calmly from his seat on the couch. Nick walked over to the kitchen counter and picked up the list of people he had marked down as no shows. "Only Brosenthal, Rich, and Bonnie can't make it tonight. They are headed out of town for some competition tomorrow with the Speech Team and had to drive down to Chicago straight after the show so they'd make it. So that leaves us with the rest of the cast… you, me, Matt, Walker, Moses, Joey, Darren, Dylan, Tyler, Brian Holden, and A.J. are coming from the boys. The ladies: Lauren, Jaime, Julia, Devin, Britney, and Lily."

"Sounds like a party." Joey chimed in. "Yes it does." Walker responded with a smile.

—

The cast party was meant to be a low-key hangout, not the typical rager of a party they sometimes went to with every room packed full of people they didn't know. This was just a final celebration with the close cast for all the work they had put into the show: a little drinking, lots of music, and some games. The cast parties this group typically threw always were fun and pretty drama filled. Not bad or annoying drama, just the kind where people take action of feelings that had built up over the course of the play's production. Each cast member was anticipating the party to live up to its expectation, and it did.

At 11:03 the next guests arrived. It was Dylan and Joe Moses. They brought some delicious party favors and Matt helped them move these snacks into the kitchen.

"Nice! You brought puppy chow! I didn't know you two baked!" Walker said jokingly when he saw Dylan and Moses make their way in.

Dylan laughed. "Yeah dude, this stuff is delicious too. It's left over from the bake sale stuff we sold at the show to raise money."

"Moses, can you help me set these lights up?" Darren called from the living room. He was attempting to set up the special party lights they had stored in the back closet of the apartment; they only got these babies out for special occasions. But they really weren't too fancy- just mood lighting for the party.

"Dude, are you gonna put on pants?" Moses questioned as he headed over to help Darren while the rest of the guys finished getting food set up. "Yeah man, when the time comes." Darren responded absentmindedly as he attempted to untangle some wires.

"You guys really got a booming party going here." Dylan joked. Everyone looked over at Joey and Walker who were messing around and romantically slow dancing in the makeshift dance floor. "Funny… they'll be here. Leave it to the ladies, Tyler, Brian, and A.J. to show up late." Nick answered back.

As if on cue the doorbell rang. Nick ran over to the door and looked through the peek hole. "It's Lauren, Jaime, and Julia," he announced before beginning to open the door.

"Oh shit!" Darren mumbled as he bolted back into his room to finish getting ready before they saw him. Cast parties normally had a fancier dress code- not a full on suit and tie, but the men wore button-ups with a necktie and nice pants while the ladies wore dresses or skirts. They liked dressing up formally as a sophisticated hats-off to each other for a job well done. It made them feel grown up, and of course it was just a tradition.

Julia, Jaime, and Lauren walked in right as Darren's bedroom door slammed shut. "What's up with him?" Jaime questioned. Walker took their coats as he answered her question "Oh, you know Darren. He's not pretty enough yet and is hiding in his room until he's hot enough for you ladies." They laughed and made their way into the living room. By now the lights were dimmed, drinks were being poured, and the music was blaring through Jim's sound system.

Soon after Tyler, Britney, and Devin came in together, closely followed by A.J. and Brian. Everyone was conversing back and forth in the living room/kitchen area. The apartment was pretty open, so it was really like one big party room instead of broken off groups.

Matt's phone rang and he looked down to see it was a call from Lily. At this point it was 11:23 so he figured she was calling to tell them not to worry and that she'd be there soon.

"Hey Lil, you close?" Matt answered the phone. "Yeah, hey Matt, I'm like 5 minutes away. But you know how Meredith came to the show tonight? Well we got to talking afterwards and decided to go grab some coffee, so that's where I've been. Since Meredith is in the theater department and has been in, like, all our other productions I was wondering if she could pretty pllleeeaaasse come to the cast party? I know she's not technically in the show, but she did help out a lot and is all of our close friend, and-"

"Lily! Shush! Of course Meredith can come! No need to explain yourself, I was going to ask her if she'd come by anyway but I didn't happen to run into her after the show. Looking forward to you two getting here!"

He smiled when he heard Lily laugh on the other side. "Thanks, Matt. Just wanted to check before we showed up. Can't wait to see you!"

Matt hung up the phone and looked over at Brian, who was standing over at the kitchen counter. "You're in luck, Holden. Turns out Lily got ahold of Meredith after the show after all, so Meredith is gonna make it tonight. I know you were concerned when we couldn't find her after the show."

Brian started to blush a bit since Julia and Devin were across the counter giving him suspicious looks. Embarrassed and sarcastically Brian responded, "Thanks, Matt. Thanks tons for pointing out my concern in front of these two," Brian nodded toward Devin and Julia, "You're a real pal, you know that, Matt?"

Matt gave Brian a thumbs up and a wink "No, problem, bud! Maybe they can help hook you up!" Matt turned around and got back to the rest of the party, leaving Julia and Devin swarming Brian with questions about his feelings for Meredith.

It'd been about 15 minutes since Darren disappeared into his room, and Lauren noticed. She snuck down the hall and put her ear against the door as she lightly tapped the wooden panel. She could hear Darren's own music softly humming through his room despite the loud party mix blaring throughout the rest of the apartment.

After what sounded like Darren fumbling around with some drawers before coming to the door, the handle turned and Darren peaked an eye through the tiny crack he made in the doorway.

"Hey, sorry, I just wanted to check and make sure you're alright in there. The party is in full swing, and we want to get started on some games, so I thought I'd come see if you'd be ready soon."

Darren, who was still hiding behind the door, moved back and opened it enough for Lauren to just barely slip through. "Yeah, but I need your help."

Once Lauren had both feet through the door Darren immediately shut the door behind her. "Man, impatient much?" Lauren joked as she turned and saw Darren's exterior. She broke down into laughter and he sprang at her and pinned her down on the bed.

"It's not funny, Laur!" he yelled, although he too was finding it hard to contain his laughter. She tried to push him away, but was laughing so hard she didn't have the energy.

"I'm not letting you go until you agree to take me seriously." Darren said as he waited patiently on top of Lauren, holding her arms against the bed until her laughter faded into a small giggle.

"Okay, okay! Promise! Now let me go, you're crushing me, Dare!" Darren smiled as he rolled over and sat on his bed as Lauren straightened out her clothes and ran her hand through her hair.

Once Lauren had herself together she stood up directly in front of Darren, looking him up and down. She never understood how even without sleep, after a busy week of play production, and knowing that Darren did, like, nothing to his hair or skin… he still looked flawless. However, she held back her laughter when her eyes wandered down the rest of him.

"Well, we certainly do have an issue here, but nothing I can't handle." She smiled and nodded toward his closet. "May I?" She waited for his nod of approval then approached the messy closet that Darren had clearly been rummaging through for some time now.

"So, how did this happen?" Lauren asked with amusement as she flipped through the hangers, closely examining each option.

Darren took in a deep breath and sighed as he laid back on his bed. "No need to sound so amused! I did laundry last night after the show. It was late and I guess I wasn't thinking clearly. Anyway, I decided it would be a wise choice to mix that shirt I tie-dyed last week with Joey and Brian in with all of my whites. I got them out of the dryer this morning but was in a rush and just threw the clothes into the basket and brought them in here. Needless to say, when I went to the laundry basket about 10 minutes ago to grab my white pants, they looked like this." Darren looked down at his pants that were heavily spotted with yellow, purple, red, blue… just about every color imaginable.

"Huh. Smooth, Dare!" Lauren started, "The good news is that those pants have gone from a crisp, formal white to a groovy and very 70s tie-dye… very funky. Bad news: they probably won't do for tonight." They both laughed and Lauren grabbed a couple hangers out of the closet and brought them over to where Darren was laying.

She continued "So, what have you been doing the past 10 minutes since you've discovered the pants problem?" Darren frowned and stared at the ceiling. "I've been trying on every pair of pants I own. But I had my heart set on those pants since yesterday. And nothing but white matches this black shirt. I'll look like an idiot if I wear my navy ones or the dark khakis. I guess I could do my black pants but black on black seems too serious, I'll feel like I'm going to a funeral."

Lauren smiled at his fashion-ista ways even though Darren couldn't see it, and slowly took a seat next to him on the bed. "Darren?"

"Yeah?"

"Did it ever occur to you that you could just wear a different shirt… one that matches some of your non-tie-dye pants?"

He turned his head and looked at her with wide eyes. She smiled and softly laid the purple button up and khaki pants that she was holding onto his torso.

He smiled and looked at the clothes. Lauren stood up and headed to the door. She took Darren's silence as a mixture of his embarrassment and confusion about everything that was going through head. He was clearly overwhelmed. It'd been a long week (month really…) for him and she knew he hadn't gotten much sleep.

She paused at the door and turned to give him a reassuring look "Take it easy, Dare, let it all go tonight. You did great and now you can just relax and enjoy yourself. It's tough… it being the end of semester and all. Especially now, we have to actually face the real world and graduate. But you are going to be great Darren. You really are going to be someone amazing one day. You're going to change lives. I know it, and everyone out there knows it. So just take a deep breath, take all the time you need to clear your mind, get changed, and I'll see ya out there."

She grabbed the door handle and paused when she heard Darren speak up "Lauren… thank you." She smiled and laughed at his helpless look as he sat up on his bed. She nodded and began to exit again when he spoke up once more. "I mean it, for everything you've done and helped me with these past four years… it means a lot to me." His face was so genuine. "I know… it's no problem, Darren" she replied sincerely. They exchanged an appreciative look and Lauren turned and shut the door smoothly behind her as she exited.


	2. Chapter 2

"Where were you?" Julia asked suspiciously as soon as she saw Lauren reappear in the kitchen. "Oh wow. Hi. Umm, Darren. Just letting him know we are getting started. That's it." Julia squinted her eyes and searched Lauren's face. "Right. You'd better not be lying, Laur. You know I can get Darren to tell me anything, and I am not afraid to ask him. So if anything happened may as well spill now."

Lauren laughed it off and reassured Julia. "Juls! I swear! Jesus, you act like I'm out to get all the men! I was just helping a friend out, nothing else." Lauren gave Julia her best 'I'm sweet and innocent' smile. Julia seemed to believe it, but wasn't going to let Lauren off that easy.

"Just saying, Lauren, you do do a lot of flirting with the guys. Now whether or not you mean anything by it, I'm not sure. But be careful, because it might just mean something to them. Honestly Laur, Joe and Dylan really like hanging out with you and-"

At the mention of Joe and Dylan's names Lauren's eyes widened and she put her finger to her mouth to quiet Julia down, pulling her further to the side so that no one nearby could hear them.

Julia ignored Lauren's paranoia and continued. "…and when you're with them you seem to enjoy yourself quite a bit as well. And if you pick a boy and stick with him, I'm all for it… but you can only have one."

Lauren paused and thought about it before she responded. "Julia, we are seniors. We've known all three of them for 4 years now… and I've been through my phase for each of them." She laughed while reminiscing about how naïve she was during her underclassmen years. "First was the Darren phase… let's face it: we all went through that one. But his goofiness and immaturity worked better in a friendship. And you and I both decided that Darren was too special to us to lose over a dumb relationship-gone-wrong."

Julia nodded in agreement, but kept silent, insisting that Lauren go on with her analysis. "And then the Joe phase. Similar to the Darren phase, but we were sophomores and were not as shy or afraid. I tried Joe out. I'll admit it: I had fun with him… physically and otherwise. But he was more of a friend with occasional benefits at parties while we were in a drunken stupor. It was never based on any real foundation. So last year when he met someone he could actually have a real relationship with… it was best to just stay as friends."

Lauren paused before she explained her final phase, clearly trying hard to remind herself of reasons why these boys hadn't worked. She couldn't help but think that maybe they had all grown up, and that things would work out better now.

Julia, on the other hand, was surprised that Lauren was being so casual about her past crushes. She normally tried to cover up her feelings, unless they were in private having a girls night and someone managed to get the info out of her. And Lauren rarely ever brought up the Joe fling. Not that it ended bad, Walker and Lauren were both still on good terms, but it just sort of came and went without much discussion over the past couple of years.

Julia decided Lauren was already a few drinks in and was in a talkative mood, not holding back anything. This could be good or bad: Julia decided she would wait and see where the conversation went before making sure Lauren didn't say something she'd regret.

"Which leads me to the final… and probably most serious… phase: the Dylan phase. The most recent of the three, this phase was the controller of my emotional rollercoaster last year. I've never been more serious with anyone than I was with Dyl. But we realized once summer started that the long distance thing wasn't going to work out. And if we couldn't even handle summer, how would we deal with post-graduation. So I guess those feelings never really got any closure, but then this year he got another girlfriend… and you know how I was jealous at first… I just… I don't know, things never really ended with Dylan. But then again, they had too. And the fact that he choose her over me forced me to move on…"

Lauren trailed off into a soft mumble, clearly lost in her own thought. Julia decided to step in before tipsy Lauren broke down into tears. "Yeah, but Laur, things didn't work out with Dylan and that girl either. They broke up in February, and on Valentines Day to say the least. That was two months ago, and he has had time to move on. They all have had time to move on. Walker lasted like 4 months with that girl he dated after your fling with him. We are older and more mature now. You can't base your feeling of someone on how you felt about them a few years back."

Lauren stared off into thought. Eyes fixed on the ground, she questioned Julia. "Yeah, but what does that mean, Juls? What do I do? I've had feelings for all of them, but they are each my friend. I love being around them all, each for different reasons. Plus, if I were to pick one now, it'd only be to get it out of my system before we all graduate. Sorta, I guess, seize of the opportunity while I still have the chance. Be spontaneous about it, you know? But I don't know which one that'd be best for. And I owe it to all of them to go into something because I think that it would be the best, not just because I can."

Julia was shocked at how real and mature Lauren was handling this conversation. Not that she normally wasn't careful about these things, it's just that Lauren was really wanting to be clear that her friendships with each of these three was the most important thing and that she didn't want to screw that up.

"Yeah, I definitely get what you mean. Like, you want to get all of these feelings out there while you still have the chance, but you don't want it to come off as superficial, or like you're just trying to hook up with one of them because the option's there. You want the guy to know 'I have feelings for you, and, hey, we are young, let's live adventurously and see where this takes us.'" Julia's eyes couldn't help but scan the room while she was giving Lauren her advice, searching for that one boy that Julia herself was talking abou- "Exactly Juls!" Lauren yelled probably louder than she would have liked.

Suddenly Brian's voice was echoing throughout the entire building. He was standing on the coffee table in the living room, bringing everyone together for a celebratory toast. Lauren looked at Julia, disappointed that this conversation had to be concluded later. "Well," Julia finished as she and Lauren headed toward Brian. "Now all you gotta do is decide which once, if any, would be the one to give it one last go with. But remember, Lauren, only one."

Lauren picked up a couple drinks and gave a confused look to Julia. "Easier said than done. We'll see how tonight goes, maybe things will clear up for how we all feel." Julia nodded and then focused in on Brian, who was still calling people over.

As everyone else grabbed their drinks and started to head to the living room to form a huddle, Darren quietly slipped out of his room (fully clad in his new outfit), and took his place next to Lauren. He gave her a relieved smile as she handed him a drink and rubbed him warmly on the back.

"I just wanted to thank everyone again for making this past month one of the most memorable and incredible experiences of my life. Even if things were…rough… at times, we all made it through. And not just that- but we did it with love and happiness for one another. We were truly a team. Personally, I couldn't be more proud of what we have accomplished. To be blunt: it was bloody brilliant! Not only the show- the entire experience. It was a pleasure to co-write with Nick and Matt, and an even greater pleasure to take part in the total creation of this thing step by step with all of you every day. So thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Here's to us!"

Everyone held up their glasses for a unison "Huzzah!" before breaking out into a burst of hugs and high-fives. Typically, more people would have given a thank you speech, but they all got that out of the way at closing meeting after the stage teardown. Brian just wanted to throw in a few words to get this bash started. And so the games began.


	3. Chapter 3

Immediately everyone broke out into a cheerful dance party. Joey ran over to Jaime, grabbed her hand, and they broke into their version of swing dancing. These two pals knew what they were doing; they had 'wasted' many a rehearsal break to practice their moves. Jaime, on the verge of tipping over from her laughter, jumped into Joey's arms as he spun her around the dance floor.

Following suit, A.J. pulled in Devin and they started their own style of wild dancing. Tyler and Britney showed off their moves as well as everyone scooted of to the side to watch with astonishment.

Matt leaned over to Brian and whispered to him discretely "Now's your moment, buddy. Go get her!" Brian looked over at Meredith, who was giggling and spectating the dancers with Lauren and Julia. Brian turned to respond to Matt. "I will if you will, man."

When Matt gave Brian a puzzled look Brian reasoned with him "Please, you think none of see the way you get all nervous and excited anytime Lily's name is dropped? I'll ask Meredith, but you have to ask Lily too."

Matt chuckled nervously, surprised that everyone was in on what he thought was his biggest secret. "Alright, yeah. You're on." Brian and Matt exchanged a handshake before departing to ask their respective ladies to dance. "Oh, and Matt," Brian stated before they were too separated, "Good luck, and have fun."

Matt smiled at Brian's helpless romantic ways and responded "Of course, you too Holden."

And so Brian walked right up to Meredith, did a cheesy bow and extended his hand to her. "Dance with me?" He was being his normal smart-ass self but added extra charm and sincerity.

Meredith, who was only slightly taken aback by this, (she's a girl, and therefore has some idea when a guy likes her) looked back at Julia and Lauren for reassurance (Julia was extra persuasive because she had been there before when Matt joked about Brian's crush on Meredith), and with their nods of approval grabbed Brian's hand and let him spin her in close to him.

Matt sweetly walked over to Lily, who was listening to Nick tell some of his favorite Spiderman jokes. Matt jokingly mocked his brother for being 'the nerdy one'. "You know, not only am I the better looking and smarter brother," Matt joked, "but I'm also funnier."

Nick protested while Lily's laughter gave Matt the push he needed to go all in. "You know what else I'm better at?" Lily giggled and shook her head no. Matt smiled and grabbed Lily's hand. "Dancing." Lily was flattered at Matt's forwardness and went along eagerly with it. "Really? Show me."

Lily smiled as Matt twirled her around and brought her to the dance floor next to Brian and Meredith. Brian and Matt exchanged proud looks while their two girls swirled around and laughed with them. It was still the beginnings of what was sure to be a great night.

—-

As the dancing commenced, the others headed over to get a game of beer pong going. "Alright, I call Julia as my partner!" Joe Moses declared. Julia tried to hide her blush and smiled to herself as Joe pulled her towards their side of the table. "I call refereeing! Cause we know you guys are all cheaters, and I don't want my lack of hand-eye coordination to be the highlight of the evening…" Nick Lang excitedly declared as he grabbed the ping pong balls from a shelf. "So that leaves Lopez, Darren, Walker, and Dylan…you four decide on a team of two."

The three boys turned and faced Lauren. "Well, you're the best at pong Lauren, so you play and pick one of us as your partner…" Dylan said unsurely as they all stood lined up in front of Lauren, awaiting her choice. Lauren's heart dropped and she laughed uncomfortably. "Geez, guys, way to put me on the spot!" Lauren joked to lighten the mood that was so tense you could cut it with a knife.

Darren looked at her reassuringly and decided to calm down his clearly stressed out co-star "Laur, it's fine. We're big boys, we can handle it if you don't pick us." When he saw that didn't calm her, Darren decided to be the bigger person and end this awkward situation, "why don't you and Walker team up? He rocks at pong and he'll be able to distract Moses with his muscles!" Everyone laughed at Darren's joke and Lauren looked up so her eyes met Walker's.

He had a longing in eyes as well as a bit of question, communicating with Lauren silently as if to check that it's okay with her if he's her partner. Lauren had always been blown away by Walker's ability to sort of speak to her with just his eyes. It was like they were having a silent conversation. Lauren smiled assuredly at Walker and nodded "Alright Walker, you and me" she announced as they made their way to their side of the table. As she passed Darren she whispered in relief "Thank you for doing that." He smiled in return and took his place next to Dylan on the sidelines of the table. "This match better be good! And winner takes on Darren and I!" Dylan exclaimed as he gave an excited Darren a fist bump.

Lauren and Walker dominated both Julia with Moses and Dylan with Darren. "Team made in heaven!" Walker yelled out while picking up Lauren and twirling around after they defeated Dylan and Darren. By this time the drinks were kicked in and everyone was feeling pretty good. The dance party people had come over to watch the end of the pong match and now laughed along as Lauren screamed with drunken joy from Joe's arms. Dylan and Darren came over and gave the winning team a congratulatory handshake which turned into a sloppy group hug.

"Okay! Okay! Next game? Who's up for some truth or dare!" Brian Holden yelled over the crowd. The unison cheer answered that question and everyone made their way to sit in a circle around a bottle that would serve as the spinner.

"Joe and Lauren, as reigning champs of beer pong, why don't one of you go first?" Joey suggested. Lauren pointed to Walker "Ts'all you!" she slurred. Walker spun the bottle to see who he would ask truth or dare. Slowly the bottle stopped spinning and landed on Darren.

Walker, who was a somewhat intense drunk, had seen Lauren sneak into Darren's room at the beginning of the party and saw they way they always joked around even when Walker thought that he made it pretty clear to his best friend that he was interested in Lauren. He let the feelings get to him and, in the state of mind he was in, planned on confronting Darren about the matter.

"Darren! My oldest and most loyal friend…" Walker began. All the spectators giggled with excitement. "Why, yes, Joe? My most understanding and reasonable friend" Darren replied with a cautious tone, seeing the temper build up in Walker's eyes. Walker sat up straight and looked Darren dead in the eyes. "Truth or dare?"

Darren thought for a second. He knew Walker was onto him about the Lauren thing and figured that Walker would ensure that this would end badly for him. If he picked truth, Darren would get drilled with an embarrassing question about his feelings for Lauren that could jeopardize his relationship with her and Walker. Not to mention Dylan, who was clearly tied up in this whole rendezvous too. But if he picked dare Joe would surely make him do something extreme… like do something that could hurt Lauren's feelings so she would be turned off by him. Darren knew he couldn't afford that and decided to go with the option that put him in the most control. The option that some would consider "the easy way out" although Darren knew it wouldn't be easy in the least. The option that would leave all his friends wondering where their adventurous and reckless Darren had gone. But Darren had to do what was best for his number one priority: Lauren. Even if it meant giving up his secrets.

"Truth." Darren said boldly. Walker smiled mischievously in return, "Truth it is, then."


	4. Chapter 4

Darren knew he was in for it. He took in a deep breath and attempted to get control of his mind. Maybe it was a good thing he was a bit inebriated, he decided.

Joe knew exactly what he needed to ask to put Darren in the toughest position possible. "If the perfect and most amazing girl would be all yours" Joe spoke slowly and stayed focused on Darren. "she'd love you… be your everything… make you the happiest man alive and want you in a… uh… romantic way…" Darren could literally see the disgust in Joe's eyes as the thought ran threw his mind. "would you love her back even if it meant losing me?"

Everyone's eyes shot back and forth between Darren and Joe, not really sure where this was coming from. Lauren didn't want to believe the question had anything to do with her. She wore a confused and suspicious look aimed at Walker, looking for any hints.

Darren didn't break eye contact with Joe, whom he had never seen look quite as serious before. No one spoke for a moment, and Joe continued even though his voice was starting to break as his fear of Darren's answer set in. "Would you let her get in between us, Darren? After all of this, you still want her, right? Even though you know it would kill me, and that our friendship would never be the same. But she's worth it, isn't she…" Joe trailed off and now looked at Lauren. Darren's eyes moved to Lauren as well.

Everyone sat back and watched, knowing that any interruption would ruin the biggest drama Michigan's theater department had seen in years. Julia looked at Lauren and was concerned, ready to step in for her friend as soon as she needed it. But as much as she wanted to, Julia knew that Lauren needed to hear what the boys had to say. Lauren needed to know how they felt and how any actions she took could affect them. So Julia stayed silent.

Lauren sat still as could be, looking straight at the motionless bottle, avoiding eye contact with everyone. Her mind was blank; she couldn't handle hearing everything that was being said. So she forced herself to zone out and decided she would continue staring at that bottle until this turn was over and it started spinning again.

She didn't want this now; she wanted to hear everyone laughing again. She wanted to be back in Joe's arms, twirling so fast that everything was blurry. But now it was all so still.

Darren and Joe just looked at Lauren for a moment. Darren felt so sorry; he never meant to put her in this position. He could see how distressed she was and it killed him that he caused her to feel anything but happiness. Joe looked at her and felt his anger grow. He couldn't stand that he wanted her so bad. How could he blame Darren for having feelings for her? But they both thought the same thing as they looked at this sweet, funny, beautiful girl before them: she had to be his.

Darren couldn't stand it anymore and forced his attention back to Joe. He decided to try his luck deflecting the question back to Walker. Anything to stop himself from hurting Lauren more. "What would you do if you were me? Aren't we sort of in the same position? Would you choose her over me?" The feelings hit Darren and he felt his control slipping away as the pain grew stronger. "I don't see how you wouldn't. Yeah, I see how you look at her and I know how you feel. But why shouldn't I feel the same way?"

As soon as the words left Darren's mouth he knew he had failed at protecting Lauren. The last thing she needed was these two best friends turning their backs on each other.

Joe wasn't having it. "Oh please! Don't give me that shit! Answer the question truthfully. I owe you nothing, not even an explanation."

At that Lauren shot up. There was a stream of silent tears rolling down her bloodshot face. She had been embarrassed to the extreme and wasn't going to deal with it anymore. Not here. She turned to exit the room.

"Lauren!" Joe and Darren called out in unison. She had no intention of stopping for them. Before she knew it, she was back in Darren's room. As soon as she was in she fell to her feet, once again drained of any energy to fight back. But this time it wasn't laughter that tired her out, it was the pounding in her head and heart that wouldn't give her a chance to breathe.

Back in the living room Darren and Joe both jumped to their feet to go after Lauren, but Julia beat them to it. "Sit down!" she snapped sternly at both of them. "She does not want either of you right now, you have to give her space." The boys sat down reluctantly; they knew she was right.

Julia left the group to go find Lauren, leaving the Langs' in charge of the confused party guests to get the sudden commotion out of everyone's minds. As she neared Darren's door, Julia felt someone behind her. She turned and found Dylan shyly approaching. Before she could ask, Dylan was giving her his reason.

"I know you think I'm just going to complicate this, but hear me out," Dylan began, "You can't deny that I was with Lauren for a long time and I know how she works. I know how to make her laugh; I can talk to her and cheer her up. I promise you can do your whole "analyze the situation" thing with her tomorrow, but right now she just needs to be cheered up so that we can all get back to enjoying this evening. Please, Julia, let me talk to her. Just for a moment."

Julia knew he was right and honestly didn't see herself putting Lauren in a good mood since Lauren probably thought Julia would blame her for leading both guys on. Julia opened the door and motioned Dylan in. She decided to wait in the hall so that the party wouldn't notice that Lauren was alone with Dylan.

Dylan walked in a shut the door. Lauren didn't even look up from her heap on the floor. "I'm fine Jules, I just didn't want to listen to that anymore." Dylan came and kneeled beside teary-eyed Lauren. "Hey, it's just me. I told Julia to take the night off from best friend duty and give me the pleasure. For some reason she agreed." Dylan gently rested his hand on Lauren's back and gave her a caring caress.

Lauren was surprised to hear Dylan's voice but was too shaken to be comforted that easily. And after all the ruckus she'd caused, she didn't want any more drama from Dylan.

"Dyl, don't. I've already screwed up one friendship, I don't need you walking around calling my breakdown your "pleasure" to handle. They'll hate you for talking to me. I'm not worth it."

Suddenly Lauren was back in the air, feet dangling high above the ground. She held on tightly as Dylan swung her around until she couldn't help but crack a smile. If there was one thing everyone close to her knew, it was that Lauren loved being lifted off her feet and twirled around. But it was only those who had spent hours upon hours with her that knew the best time to pull that trick was when she least suspected it. It made her laugh uncontrollably every time.

Lauren had no choice but to give in to this craziness. Between her giggles she managed to squeak out "Dylan Saunders, I swear, if you do not put me down this instant! I'm gonna…"

Dylan continued the spinning. He laughed, too. "You're gonna what?" he asked excitedly, not at all intimidated by this little monkey.

"Dammit Dyl, I don't know but it's gonna be soooo bad! You're gonna cry like a baby. That bad!"

Dylan laughed even harder. "Alright, I'll make you a deal. I'll put you down if you stop thinking you're not worth this. Promise me you'll let us be there for you. That's what friends are for. Cause I'm sorry Laur, but you're stuck with us. Whether you like it or not we're here."

Lauren thought about it. Her current position wasn't that bad, actually. She could keep spinning and never stop to face the world, have Dylan there to keep her company, and never admit to something she didn't want to be true. Why would she ever take him up on an offer that was a complete downer for her?

Dylan didn't give her the chance to decide. He slowed down his turns until his feet came to a stop. The room was still spinning as he inched his way over to Darren's bed and softly laid Lauren down on top of the unruly sheets.

Lauren looked up at him as he set her down. "I didn't want to stop." Her eyes followed him as he took a seat next to her. "I know, but some things in life happen unexpectedly. You just gotta live with it no matter what. Do your best with what's thrown at you. Whether that's me sweeping you off your feet of stopping before you're ready, you adjust and make the most of it. I know you don't think so, but you're good at it."

Lauren took in Dylan's words. "Maybe it's not that I'm good at it, maybe it's that you always know the perfect time to sweep me off my feet when I'm least expecting it and put me down before I get motion sick. How could I not handle someone who knows what's good for me better than I do."

Dylan wanted to hug her, but he knew he couldn't. She needed a friend right now, and that's what he was going to be. The last thing he wanted was to complicate this situation more. He knew what he had to do, even though it meant giving up any opportunity to be with Lauren. He had to convince her he couldn't be with her, it was the only way to rid her of the stress of choosing between the three boys. If Dylan pulled himself out of the situation, Lauren would be better off. He had to believe it.

"That's why you need someone who challenges you. It's more rewarding getting what you want when it's not handed to you. Maybe you need someone tougher to handle so that when things work out you know it's well earned. You still will be happy, we all want you to be happy, but maybe the greatest joy will come with someone who will fight for you and will make you fight for him back."

"Are you saying you wouldn't fight for me?" Lauren got that 'punched in the stomach' feeling again.

"I'm saying that I would do anything to make you happy. So much that I'd never allow myself to hurt you. And if fighting for you like Joe and Darren were doing would hurt you… I wouldn't do it."

"But you not fighting for me would hurt me too."

"So you realize you are worth fighting for? That for some people the pain of not having you is greater than the pain of hurting you by fighting for you. For me, I can live with not having you if it means I can only hurt you once by leaving you. I made that decision last year and, while it killed me, I've learned to live with it. I couldn't do what Joe and Darren are doing. I couldn't put you in that position and be with you if you knew that your being with me meant you let someone else down. By taking myself out of the picture you no longer have to feel bad about choosing. And I can't hurt you anymore. But Darren and Joe, they are willing to risk it. They are willing to hurt you if it means they can have you. You're worth it."

"I don't want to be worth it. I don't want to be responsible for any pain."

"And that's just another one of those things in life you can't change and are gonna have to adapt to. But you have to know this is not your fault and with the right attitude it will work itself out. Because I think you're brave for being able to face this and I know you'll do so with grace. You can handle this. It will be challenge and you'll have to see which one, if either, is worth the fight and pain. And in the end the right guy will make you so happy that it will outweigh every other feeling."

"You make it sound so easy, Dylan. How do you know what to say and how to help me?"

"We make a great team. I'm here if you need someone to talk to or sort things out with as you get through this. You know that?"

"But just as a friend?"

"That's all I can offer Lauren. I want to offer more, I just can't be in a position where I can make you unhappy. At least as a friend I can always be there for you and can cheer you up when stuff like this gets overwhelming. I can't be the cause of it, though, I just can't Lauren. I want to care for you forever, as long as you'll have me I'll be your friend and won't let you down at that."

Lauren understood that she needed someone close who knew her, that she could depend on, and who would never put her heart at risk. She was prepared to be there for Dylan too and agreed that a friendship alone would keep things simple and would leave at least one thing to depend on if life took a turn for the complicated. Once again, Dylan was ahead of the game and had thought of this probably long ago. He always knew what was best. Now they both understood that the only way to always be there for each other was a friendship with no strings attached.

Lauren felt a little empty knowing her shot with Dylan was over, but those feelings were outdone by her happiness that she had someone to back her up no matter what. Now all she had to do was face the problem straight on.

Dylan and Lauren hugged it out before returning to the party. When they met Julia in the hall, Lauren gave her a confident hug and assured her friend she was going to handle this the best she could. Lauren put on the bravest smile she could muster and headed out to the living room with Dylan and Julia by her side.

Things had settled down in the party room, the Langs had cleverly split the group into two activities to ease the tension. There was a lively game of jumbo twister in one area while some others were messing around on Darren's guitar and bongo drums on the couch.

Joe was in the twister group with Meredith, Holden, Moses, Tyler, Brittany, Joey and Jaime. Lily and Matt were off to the side "watching" although they seemed to be more into each other than the game. So far only Tyler and Jaime had gotten out, and the rest of the group was some how standing strong despite the big knot they had turned into.

Over on the couch Darren was taking requests for a low-key sing along. Jim was tapping along on the bongos and A.J., Devin, and Nick formed harmonies as Darren strummed his guitar.

When Lauren and company entered the room, they managed to slip in fairly unnoticed. Dylan headed over to the twister game to see if he could distract Holden into falling while Julia lead Lauren to grab a seat on the floor and join the jam session.

They knew that of the two, Joe was the most likely to lash out and that it was probably best to leave him be for a while. Darren was good at covering his feelings and just focusing on what he needed to. It was especially easy keeping his mind off things with his guitar in his hands, and when Lauren walked in he grabbed her and Julia cushions to sit on and didn't turn their previous encounter into anything to stress over. He figured he'd have a chance to explain himself to her later. But now, all they needed was the music. That was enough.

Joe was a different story. The excitement of the twister game had him distracted temporarily; the alcohol allowed him to push the incident to the back of his mind. But when he saw Dylan return his head whipped around to find Lauren, not wanting to miss a moment to explain to her how he felt. He had to get it out. The distraction led him to lose control of his body and he crashed down to the floor, taking down Joey, Brittany and Moses in the process. This left Meredith and Holden, who were safely tangled together in their own corner of the mat, to battle it out for the win.

Before anyone could object, Joe was on his feet and headed to Lauren. Nothing else mattered, he desperately needed to talk to her and wouldn't wait any longer to keep this to himself.

In a flash Joe was by Laurens side, frantically trying to get the words out. Out of context, Joe's urgency and lack of ability to form words had him coming off like some mute lunatic who had approached an unsuspecting Lauren out on the streets. Although he didn't mean it, he came off aggressively and his passion appeared to be anger.

Genuinely trying to protect Lauren, instantly Darren, A.J, and Nick were pulling Joe back, simply afraid he was going to hurt her. Julia and Devin had jumped back out of instinct, afraid of Joe's drunken wrath. Lauren stood her ground, undaunted by this struggling Joe.

Darren was going off on his friend, not understanding how this was happening. "Don't you dare touch her! Get back, Joe! I know you're upset, but I never thought you'd come to this!" Darren's plea was ignored as Joe struggled to get out of the boys' hold.

Joe found the words to retaliate. "Let me go! I just have to talk to her! Let me talk to her! Lauren, please!"

Lauren reacted instantly, unable to watch Joe struggle any longer. "Let him go! I'm not afraid of him, I know he won't hurt me."

The boys held back for a moment, not sure what to do. They thought they were helping Lauren. Lauren spoke louder as she reiterated her wish. "I know you guys heard me, let go of him!"

A bit doubtfully, A.J. and Nick released their hold on Joe. Darren caught Lauren's eyes and she could see how she had hurt him. Joe was getting what he wanted and Darren, who was just trying to save the day, felt scolded for being overprotective. He finally released Joe and sat back down the couch and picked up his guitar. He didn't look back up at Lauren.

Joe sat down next to Lauren more calmly this time, trying to get regain control of himself. "If I could just talk to you, I-"

"Okay, let's go." Lauren cut him off. She wanted to face Joe now while her pep talk with Dylan still had her feeling fearless. She could deal with Darren later, and she knew he'd understand, but for now she had to get the story straight. She needed to talk to Joe and see if there was anything worth fighting for still left between them.

Lauren grabbed Joe's wrist and led him down the hall. "I'd rather not use Darren's room." Joe protested as Lauren turned the knob. Lauren wasn't about to give in to everything he said, she needed to make her presence known. "Beggars can't be choosers, Walker" Lauren replied sharply as she shoved Joe into Darren's room. If she was going to have this uncomfortable talk she at least wanted to be in a room she felt completely comfortable in.

Lauren took a seat on Darren's bed. She patted the place next to her and, after eyeing it resentfully for a moment, Joe took his seat. He knew the spot next to Lauren was where he belonged, even if it was on the very sheets Lauren and Darren had shared their first kiss 3 years prior. Now all that he had to do was prove this to Lauren; show her that there was no other choice but him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Quick update: I'm thinking I'll get this story finished by the time I go back to school, which gives me a month exactly. It'll probably end up being around 15 to 20 chapters so I'll try to update at least twice a week (hopefully?). Also please review! I love hearing what you think and getting suggestions, it encourages me to keep writing Thanks, and I hope you enjoy!**

Lauren looked at Joe expectantly. The look in his eyes made her anxious so she began. "So here's the thing... a couple of hours ago everything was completely normal between us and now you act like you can't stand to have anyone else even glance my way. What happened? Tell me everything. I want to know what you're thinking."

"I don't know Laur, it just all hit me so suddenly that I felt like if I didn't let you know how much you mean to me before the night ended then I would lose you forever. I had to act now before one of those other guys stepped in. I thought I had time and I've been enjoying all the times I've gotten to hang out with you recently, but it always seems like we can never be alone and that either Darren or Dylan or someone tags along. I just got fed up with it; I can't believe those guys would do that to me. But if I stand up for myself, and for you, for us… then there's no way they will miss the memo that I want you and there will be no excuse for them cutting in..."

Lauren stopped him there. "Joe, you make it sound like I'm some prize to be won. Like I'm a trophy or a game or something. I want to be treated like a person; I'm not something you have dibs on that no one else can talk to. And I felt respected until about an hour ago when suddenly I became an item. Honestly, I don't want to be with anyone who makes me feel like that."

Joe gave her the biggest sad puppy look she had ever seen. He looked like she had just stolen an ice cream cone out of his hand and thrown it to the ground. There was an innocence in his eyes, like he had no idea he had done anything wrong and would do anything to take it all back. Joe was sure his chance with Lauren was over, and that she'd never want to talk to him about it again. He didn't know what to say, he was afraid anything that came out of his mouth would just make matters worse.

Lauren took Joe's silence as just that and continued her rant. He needed to hear it, but she didn't want to hurt his feelings, just tell him how she saw it. "But you have been so good to me all these years and I had absolutely no reason to complain about us until tonight. I realize you aren't exactly in the best state of mind and realize hammered Joe isn't the sharpest tool in the shed..." Joe half smiled at Lauren's joke, he appreciated her lightening the mood when all he wanted to do was run away and never come back if what she was telling him was that they were no good together. "But since the Joe I know and love is not completely here tonight, I want to wait and see where this goes. No final decisions tonight. You've made your intentions clear and you should know I am interested, but I need some time first and decide if this would be good for us or if we'd be better off as buds."

Joe let out a breathe of relief. It wasn't over yet. He took this opportunity to make sure Lauren knew he wasn't messing around this time. "Fair enough, and I already can't wait for us to talk again. When you have it figured out, I'll be here. I will wait. If you ever need me for anything I will be there. Until our time comes we can go back to our usual 'buds' relationship, but this time around I'm serious, Lauren. If you will let me make you happy, and I'm completely sure I can, then I promise you I will do my best. I really want to be with you, I won't take it for granted this time, Lauren. When we were younger it was just a game and for fun and it didn't mean anything, but now that I've really gotten to know you I don't want to be with anyone else. It's been this way for so long now. Just keep that in mind, Lauren. No one works better than us, not even Meredith and Brian... which by the way have you seen them tonight? Holden finally made his move!"

Lauren was in awe with every aspect of his speech, but that last part was too good to pass up. "No way, really? I missed it! Did you see Matt and Lily? SO cute! Gosh, I've been waiting for that forever!" They both laughed and were reminded how they purely enjoyed talking to each other. Maybe Joe was right, Lauren did have a relationship with him that was so casual and real. Nothing could faze them and everything made sense when they talked.

Back to the serious note though, Lauren promised Joe she'd keep his words in mind but made him swear to leave Darren out of this for now. "You're lucky enough to have your mind made up, Joe. And I wish I was there and that I could jump into something head first and all in, but I have to take everything and everyone into account. But I will let you know as soon as things are sorted out. And thanks for talking to me, it wasn't that bad, right?"

Joe smiled at his favorite girl and shook his head no. He had one more question. "Were you disappointed when you found out I had feelings for you?"

Lauren thought about it for a moment. "I was disappointed in myself for wanting so bad for it to be true. I've always wanted a second chance with you and when I realized you did too I was happy, but also completely let down because I knew I couldn't be there like you wanted me to. You deserve a girl who _has_ to be with you as much as you have to be with her. And while I want to be that girl, there are other factors preventing me from it. But if I can get my head straight I will gladly be that girl. So I guess, yeah, it didn't feel all good. But sometimes things are more rewarding when they don't come easily." Lauren smiled as she remembered the lesson Dylan had taught her.

Joe seemed to understand. He assured her, "You didn't let me down, though, okay? Trust me, I still want you just as bad. And I love a little chase." He smiled and brought her in for a hug. Lauren snuggled in to the nape of his neck and took in the familiar scent before she let him go. "Bring it, Walker" she playfully shoved him as they got up and walked to the door.

Lauren started to open the door when unexpectedly Walker's hand pushed it closed again. She looked up at him confused. "Wait, I have one more thing I have to tell you."

Before Lauren even knew what was going on Joe had one hand on her waist pulling her close and the other on her chin, guiding her lips to his. They kissed for a moment.

At first Lauren struggled but once she realized what was going on she let it happen. Joe must have known that if he had tried that any other way she would have turned him down. But he caught her perfectly off guard.

When they pulled away Lauren couldn't help but call Joe out. "You little shit! You got me when I wasn't expecting it on purpose so you could get away with it!" she laughed at Joe's sneaky moves.

Joe was smiling proudly and still had his arms wrapped around her waist as he swayed them back and forth happily. "I thought I'd leave you with that before you mull things over..." He gave her a 'you know you loved it' look and headed out the door, leaving Lauren completely wonderstruck.

Lauren watched Joe strut down the hall like he owned the place. She watched as he walked right up to Darren and pulled him in for a hug. Joe was really trying.

"Damn, he's good." Lauren thought out loud as she slowly approached the party. "So good."

Lauren headed toward the couch to make amends with Darren, but was quickly intercepted by Julia. "How'd it go? Was he nice? Did you work anything out? What about Darren? Dylan told me about what you two talked about. Hey, at least that's one problem out of them way. Joe seems really happy. What did you say to him?"

"Jules! I'll fill you in later, right now I really have to find Darren." Lauren maneuvered past her curious friend, who was now inquiring as to why she had to talk to Darren. Lauren ignored it and walked over to the couch.

Much to his surprise, little Lauren plopped down next to Darren. Joe was a ways over, pretending he knew what he was doing with the bongo drums while Jim attempted to snatch them away when Joe wasn't looking. When he saw Lauren take a seat he just looked up and smiled. Darren kept strumming his guitar, showing no signs of acknowledging Lauren's presence.

"Hey" was all she could come up with. How did Darren have her feeling like she did something wrong? Why did he get to play the victim card? He had hurt _her_, he had stayed bottled up too long and then decided it was okay to let it out in front of everyone, making what Lauren thought was a private matter very public.

Darren didn't say anything; he appeared to be lost in thought as he stared down at his hands strumming the guitar. Lauren didn't know what to do, so she tried small talk. "That's a beautiful song, you write it?"

Darren turned abruptly to face her. "What's going on, Lauren? I'm lost. One minute everything is fine and then I'm losing control and just yelling all this stuff at my best friend... stuff I never thought I'd accuse him of. And then you were gone with Dylan, what happened there? And then Joe was going crazy and I wanted so bad to protect you and I just got shot down and I felt so bad, like everything I do is wrong. And now he's hugging me like nothing happened and you're here again asking me about my song like nothing happened, which I usually would go along with but I just want to know how you are and if you're okay or we're okay. You said earlier that I need to let it all go tonight, but you were wrong Lauren. I can't afford to let it go because I loose control and I don't know what I'm doing or why. Everything is hitting me so hard, I feel like my emotions have been turned up a thousand notches. And I am so confused..." Darren trailed off with a completely lost look in his eyes.

Lauren grabbed his hand a have him a comforting smile. "Wait... so _did_ you write that song?" She squeezed his hand as he reacted to the joke. "Dammit, Lauren, I was trying to be serious! I just ranted my life story to you and that's what you picked up!" Lauren laughed as he freaked out and Darren tried to hold in his smile too.

"Don't worry, I'll explain everything over dinner tomorrow. Sound good? Bring your guitar; we'll go on an adventure. I'll tell you everything you need to know as long as you play me that song."

Darren smiled at Lauren's ability to bring him back into control. It was weird, it was like she caused him to loose all sense of right and wrong yet she was the one who bright him back when psycho Darren took over. "Fuck, can't we make it breakfast, I don't know if I can wait that long."

"Good things come to those who wait, grasshopper" Lauren replied as she cuddled down next to her now much more relaxed friend. "But I know what you mean, I'm dying to hear that song too." Darren laughed and let Lauren slip closer to him.

They had always been big cuddlers, the two of them. This was a very cuddly group of friends, but these two in particular seemed to always find each other when there were long group meetings or down time at rehearsal.

"Don't get too excited, it's not perfect yet," he said with an ere of mystery. "What's that supposed to mean?" Lauren said with a laugh. "You'll see."

Darren went back to his guitar, quietly humming the tune to what he knew was Lauren's favorite slow song. She set her head back on the couch and closed her eyes, allowing only the music to fill her head.

Finally, after all that mess, things seemed back in order. Everyone was happy. But there were still major decisions to be made, and they all knew the peace would only last so long.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

The night sadly came to an end after a lively game of ultimate charades and superlative awards were handed out by the directors. The girls decided their safest bet was to all spend the night at Julia's to make sure everyone got home alright. The boys planned to crash in the party apartment after a few rounds of Halo.

Before the group split to their designated sleeping arrangements, Brian jumped up on the table for a final announcement. "One last thing, you guys! Remember how we were talking at the end of rehearsal last week about a possible group activity once the play was over as one last 'hurraw' before most of us graduate? Well Joey and I were taking earlier about maybe doing a group trip to kick off the summer. What do you guys think? We were actually thinking maybe going camping for a weekend, really put our wilderness skills to the test, and finish off the trip with a visit to Disney World and the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Would anybody be up for that? A show of hands!" Everyone's hands shot into the air. A few of them thought this would be their last night together as a group, and loved this opportunity for more time. "Awesome! Camping and Disney World it is then! Y'all have a good night, and we'll keep you updated! Thanks for coming!"

The minute the girls stepped out the door it was gossip central. Meredith and Lily were getting drilled about their new romances (Meredith conveniently had to run back inside because she 'dropped her Chapstick'), everyone wanted to know if Devin felt anything when she kissed Jim during truth or dare, and of course what happened between Lauren and her trio. They decided they would all spill in a share circle once they were back at Julia's.

Back at the apartment, the boys lounged on the couch after deciding they'd clean up the next day. They set up the Xbox and went to town, with Joey and Joe jumping up on the furniture when the game got extra exciting.

"So how was everybody's night?" Joey asked in his most flamboyant voice once he settled down after Moses took out Matt's player in the game.

Most of them stayed focused on the screen and just sorta mumbled out an acknowledgment of Joey speaking.

Joey wasn't about to take that as an answer, so he pressed the matter. "I don't know, gentlemen, it sure looked like Holden was getting pretty comfortable with Meredith during twister. Bet you had a good night." Joey smiled at the now blushing Brian. "Eh, you know I was actually thinking the same thing about Matt and Lily." Brian deflected the attention to his very-into-the-video-game friend. "Ohhh" some of the boys grumbled.

When Matt felt all eyes on him he looked up. "Huh?" he said absent mindedly while turning back to the game. "Lily, Matt, ring a bell?" Nick was annoyed with his brother for no particular reason. Matt smiled and entertained their little game. "You mean Lily Marks? What about her?" Dylan nudged him on the back of the head "Don't play dumb, Matty. We all saw." The boys nodded in agreement. Matt's eyes stayed locked on the screen. "Yep, I asked her out for tomorrow night." he let them sit on that one. "You what?! Matthew! Look at _you_ being a bachelor!" Moses joked. Matt smiled.

"And you guys didn't think I have it in me. I probably did way better than you, Holden. What'd you do? Finally get her phone number?" Matt asked jokingly.

"No!" Brian playfully kicked him over Darren, who was quietly strumming his guitar. "I invited her to my stand up show and dinner next weekend. But since that's so far away, in the mean time we are going bowling and I'm making her dinner. So ha! Two dates!"

The boys rolled their eyes and turned their attention to Joe, who was now stretched out across Dylan, Moses, and Jim while fake shooting at the television with his make believe controller.

"What about you, Walker? You sure seemed to have an eventful night."

Finally the girls were all cuddled together on the floor of Julia's living room in a sea of pillows and blankets with popcorn and candy galore.

"Alright, who's goin first!?" Julia asked excitedly. Meredith tried to lay low but Brittany nudged her as if she knew something the others didn't. "Mere! You know you want to!" Meredith looked down in her lap bashfully.

"There's really not much to it." she said with a shy smile. "But, um, he's gonna make dinner for me this week and take me bowling even though I insisted I don't have good enough hand eye coordination for it… and then we talked a lot and, um, yeah a goodnight kiss." Meredith tried to hold in her joy, she didn't want to get too excited yet but, man, this had been a long time coming.

"WHAT! Meredith! How was it?! Is Holden a good kisser? When and where, how did we miss it?" All the girls shouted out their questions and approval. Several "finally!"s rang through the room.

Meredith began her explanation. "After his last announcement thing about our group trip he called me to the side while you guys were getting your stuff together before heading to the lobby. He told me to meet him on the elevator in 5 minutes. So I went back to you guys and when we were in the lobby that's when I told you I had to go back for my Chapstick but really when I reached their floor the elevator opened and Brian was there. He got in and on the ride back down he told me he had a nice time with me and was looking forward to seeing me again. Then when the elevator stopped, he kissed me goodnight."

A unison "Ahhhhh" sounded in the room. "And that's right when I peeked around the corner in the lobby because I heard the elevator was back down and was checking to see if Meredith was on it and ready to go. She sure was on it, but not very ready to go" Brittany said happily. Everyone giggled. "She caught me red handed." Meredith blushed.

The girls smiled and went on about how they wished some of the other boys were as romantic as Brian. "Alright, Lily, how was Matt?" Lily told them about how he asked her to dance and kept her company all night. "We really have a lot in common, and I'm glad he said something tonight." Lily finished telling the girls.

They moved on to their next target: Lauren. "Alright, Lo, how was your night?" Jaime asked.

Joe looked around the room at everyone suspiciously. "Fine."

Lauren got a bad feeling in her stomach. She didn't want to tell them about everything that had happened, she knew they wouldn't approve. She decided to act like nothing went wrong. "Fine" she said with an innocent smile.

"You got pretty worked up for a while there, buddy. Almost took a few of us down. Care to explain?" A.J asked. Joe tried to laugh off some of the tension. "Yeah, it was just one of those nights, man. Things were crazy." He figured that was enough to satisfy his friends so that they would move on to another topic.

It wasn't.

"What made this night so special to you, Walker? Something… or somebody… catch your attention?" Joey asked quizzically. "Uh… I mean cast parties are always great. And it being our last one... I had some things I had to do before I regretted never doing them." Joe stayed vague.

Darren rolled his eyes. "Dammit, Joe, tell them about Lauren. It's really no shocker, they can handle it." Darren said more harshly than he intended but compensated with a lighthearted smile. Now that Joe had been called out, he knew there was no avoiding it. "Uh…okay, here's the story…" he began.

"Don't try to hide it, Lo! We know something is up, and this is our sacred share circle so you must spill everything!" Devin spoke up. Lauren knew this was a tradition these girls had had since freshman year. She figured there was no way out besides the truth. After all, maybe she could even get some advice out of it. She did need a 3rd person perspective. Lauren decided to let it all out. "It's pretty messed up guys… I think I need your help."

"So I've gotten to know Lauren pretty well this last year or two… we all have. For quite a while she was seeing Dylan so she was off limits to us, but once this year started she was available again. Now this year I've had my share of, for lack off better words, 'hookups' with ladies. None of them meant a damn to me though; they were nothing more than physical. But even though she's been available I've never dreamed of doing that with Lauren. Alright, I've dreamed it, but never considered turning Lauren into a short lived thrill ride. I want her around for a long while, and I knew I wasn't ready to settle down into one girl. But throughout these play rehearsals and all this end of the year stuff, I've realized that if I don't get her now I'm goin to lose her… forever. I can't have that." Joe realized his tipsy self was opening up waaaay too much for his "bros" and that he needed to bring it back before he got too deep… if that was even possible. "So I lashed out on Darren. I'm sorry, man. It was a mistake but I was just running off pure emotion there. I may have been out of line but it was like a wildness came over me and I couldn't shake it out. And I know you feel the same way, Darren. But I could never really ask you to pick between me and Laur. Like you said, why shouldn't you feel the same way about her? She's amazing. Why aren't we all going for her? But the thing is, even though it'd kill me to loose her, I'd never get through it if I didn't have my best bud there too. Even if you are the one to take her, I need you and won't let you go too. So, yeah…" Joe trailed off and waited for a reply.

"Do you guys think it's possible to have strong feelings for more than one person at once? Cause I feel something when I'm around Darren and Joe. With Joe it's like we get along great and can joke and there's definitely a connection there. I can have fun with him. But I'm not sure if I could really let him in on all my secrets, he's good for easy conversation but when it get's into stuff like morals and things personal about life I feel like it takes more to get him to understand. With Darren I can joke around and also have serious conversations. It used to be that Darren was too immature, but now it seems like he's starting to understand that he is going to make something of himself. I want to help him with that journey, but I'm afraid I won't be able to. What if I let him down? With Joe the future is whatever happens, happens… but with Darren there are sort of these expectations I feel like I'll need to live up to. Maybe he'll be better off with some Hollywood girl in California since that's where he's headed when we graduate. I don't want to let him down. Even though they are best friends they are opposite sides of the spectrum. I'm afraid Joe will let me down when I need him and I'm afraid I'll let Darren down when he needs me…"

Lauren finished her rant and looked up for help from her friends.

The boys stared at Joe blankly, not sure how to comfort their unusually emotional friend. Darren decided to respond. "I get it, man. She's a lot to gain and even more to lose. Maybe we should let her make the decision and both of us refrain from making moves on her until she gives us a straight answer, got it? I won't let you get rid of me that easy dude, and no hard feelings from tonight, okay? We need to leave her alone and let her come to us, agreed?"

Darren decided it was best if Joe didn't know about his dinner with Lauren the next day. What he didn't know wouldn't piss him off, Darren thought. The same thought occurred with Joe about his kiss with Lauren. He was sure it would linger in the back of her mind and gave him an advantage over Darren. Should he tell Darren or pretend it never happened? "Agreed." Joe said. Looks like for now it was his little secret between him and Lauren.

The girls comforted Lauren. "First off, you are good enough for Darren and if he ever makes you feel unworthy or anything just forget him because you deserve someone who makes you feel amazing. If Joe can give you that, great. But I think the thing with Darren is just nerves and really you can be there for him. It sounds like he's clearly the one to go with. What is it about Walker that has you holding on?" Jaime asked curiously.

Lauren swallowed hard, she had to tell them. "I kissed Joe tonight." The girls all stared in disbelief. "Well, he kissed me… but I let him."

"That's what it was. So was it a big enough sign for you to give up Darren?" Jaime continued.

"Yes. At the time, at least. But when I was with Darren a few minutes later it was like Joe wasn't even there. He's easy to forget, but when he's there he's so powerful." Lauren said as she reminisced on her evening.

"Well, when you're with Joe do you forget about your feelings for Darren?" Jaime decided that was the next logical question, and the other girls stepped back and let Jaime do her thing.

"Darren's always there, even if it's faint. I've always wanted Darren around. I've tried to never look at him as more than a friend because I don't want to loose him. But I don't want to hurt him by being with Joe." Lauren was back to feeling guilty, like she was playing with these boys' hearts.

Jaime tried to summarize what she was hearing from Lauren, "So… the feelings for Joe are strong… ridiculously strong… but they can come and go in an instant. The feelings for Darren are more contained, but they are consistent."

Lauren thought about Jaime's conclusion. "Exactly. What do I do? Do I go for the guy who amazes me when he sweeps me off my feet, or the one who would never ceases to make me smile, even if it is just a grin?"

"The age old question, my friend." Jaime said knowingly. "This might not be the most ideal answer, but I think you need to try one out to see what life without the other is like. Be with Joe wholeheartedly for awhile… see if you can stand a life without Darren. Or with Darren and see how it feels to never be in Joe's arms again. That way you will see who you honestly can't stand to be without. You can't imagine this sort of scenario, you have to really live it. Because once you pick one, you lose the other. Yeah, he might still be your 'friend' like how it worked out with Dylan, but it'll never be the same. If you're really meant to be with one and you are with the other, you'll know. Then you can make the decision."

The other girls nodded in approval. "So, you're saying I pick one right now. I'll be with him completely, no flirting or anything with the other. If it feels right I'll know I've made the right decision, and if it's not I'll beg the other to take me back?" Lauren thought the plan seemed a little demeaning to the boys. The last thing she wanted was to play with their hearts more.

"I know it's not ideal, Laur, but I don't see any other way you could confidently live with a decision. And if you are with one and decide you need the other, you let the first go and if the second doesn't take you… then maybe neither were meant to be. But if the second guy really can't live without you either, he'll understand why you had to try life without him. He'll know you did it to realize you can't truly be happy without him by your side."

Lauren figured this was the only option she had. There was so little time, and this decision had to be made before she lost them. "Alright, I'm in. I have a dinner date with Darren tomorrow. I'll talk to him about it then. I'll tell him everything. I'll figure out which way to go from there. And thank you guys, this is so much easier with you here to help. I'm gonna miss you all so much. Promise me this: you'll never forget these past four years together. You will be in my heart always. Even though next year and from here on out we all won't live in the same town anymore, we will always be friends. Never hesitate to call me whenever you need me. I promise to always be there for you guys."

They all promised each other this wasn't the end and that they would stand by each other forever, no matter how far apart they were. Little did they know that this end was just the beginning.


	7. Chapter 7

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**Chapter 7**

Darren walked up to Lauren's door with his guitar strapped to his back and his hands in his pockets. Oddly, he was nervously excited to see Lauren. It was like his first date all over again. He knew he was breaking his agreement with Walker, but he just didn't care. This was worth it. He was about to knock on her door when Lauren burst out towards him. Without stopping, she smiled and grabbed his arm. He spun around and was pulled along behind her as she continued to dash down the hall. "Come on! We have to hurry!" Lauren called as she took off toward the apartment building's entrance. Darren had no choice but to run after her, smiling the whole way. Yet again, Lauren caught him off guard and now had him running around after her. He didn't know how she was moving so effortlessly with flip-flops in one hand and a picnic basket half her size in her other. But he'd chase her anywhere.

He caught up to her and demanded she told him where they were going. "Lauren! Lopez! Tell me right now what the rush is! Where are we headed?!" Lauren's smile couldn't be any bigger. She wasn't going give away the secret yet. "We are gonna miss it! Come on!" They continued to make their way to U of M's most popular sledding hill. They had been there with their friends many a snow storm to see who could race down the hill fastest in their sleds. But tonight was a beautiful, warm night, and Lauren had other plans.

They hurried up the hill and as soon as they reached the tall summit, Lauren held out her arm as Darren crashed into it and to a halt. "Right here, this is it." Lauren said with a smile as she tossed her shoes down and put the basket gently on the ground. Darren looked out across the other side of this towering hill and understood what the rush was for. They were staring into one of the finest sunset's he had ever seen.

There were no need for words. Darren pulled Lauren over to his side and they held each other close as they watched the last few minutes of the sunset. They appreciated it together, knowing it was one of the last ones they'd see in Ann Arbor.

As the sky grew dark blue the street lanterns lit up the grassy area they were in. Lauren slid out of Darren's arms and opened up her basket. She pulled out a blanket for them to sit on and some candles for extra lighting. "Would you?" Lauren asked sweetly, handing Darren the lighter. As he got the candles burning Lauren laid out their meal: a collection of their favorite (and vegetarian for Lauren) snacks. They had trail mix, a variety of fruits, finger sandwiches, gummy worms, pudding, and brownies for dessert. A meal for champions.

They wasted no time getting to what was taking over Darren's mind: his relationship with Lauren and what Joe had to do with it. As soon as they took their first bite Darren started his Q&A. After all, Lauren promised him she'd tell him everything. And he trusted her.

"So tell me about Joe." Darren asked nonchalantly. Lauren looked up at him, mouth full of chocolate pudding. She put the spoon back in the container and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "Wow, Dare, really not wasting any time with the interrogation…" Darren shrugged his shoulders and waited for her to continue. "You're right though. I promised." Lauren said with a smile.

She sat up and got into a comfortable position. Suddenly nervous, she decided she would just lay everything out on the table… as long as Darren asked for it. She couldn't bombard him with a long speech about everything that happened. She was going to have him pick and choose what information he needed from her and she'd give him her honest and best answer. She began, "Okay. I've had feelings for Joe before, right? And I thought they were gone and that it was done and whatever but now I'm not sure. If there was nothing there, why do I keep thinking about it, you know?" She waited for his reply.

Darren looked at her intently and fell right into the setup, immediately asking his next question. "Do you want to be with Joe again?"

The thing with Darren was that there was hardly any beating around the bush. He let Lauren know what he needed and she would do her best, and vice versa. They worked well together and cut the crap.

Lauren knew she didn't need to sugar coat; she had to be real with Darren. He had to know exactly how she felt. "I do. But I'm having trouble justifying that if it means I'll loose you. I can't make this ultimatum unless I really know what life is like without one of you. I can't just picture it, I have to live it. From there I'll know what I want. Do you get what I'm trying to say? Is that selfish?"

Darren thought about it for a moment. He wanted to make sure he understood. "So, you mean like… test drive one of us?" He wasn't sure how he felt about that concept.

"More like going with my gut and being with someone. If being with that someone turns out to be everything I've always wanted, great. If it doesn't work out for one reason or another, for example if I realize it should have been someone else all along, then hopefully that someone else would understand why I did what I did and would give us a chance. And if he doesn't, then I'll be alone for a while. I might loose both of you, but I'd rather know now than always wonder what I missed by never taking a chance. It's about taking chances and seeing where they lead me."

Darren shook his head. "It's not selfish, it's brave. You're doing what you need to do, everyone else just has to understand."

Lauren truly appreciated Darren. She could throw anything at him and he turned it around to be positive. Even when he occasionally lost his cool he'd always find his way back with a little encouragement from her. Their relationship was incredibly supportive of each other, and that's something she always made sure she never took for granted.

So now that Darren seemed to understand what and why Lauren had to do what she was about to do, all that was left was to tell Darren who she had in mind. It was going to change things forever, but change is good. At least, she hoped.

"Thanks Darren. So much. I'm lucky to have a friend who gets it, who understands. Darren you need to know that you are much more understanding than Joe. If I told him what I just told you he probably wouldn't understand. He'd tell me I was being unfair, which I guess I am. But I have to if any of us are going to move on and be happy. He wouldn't get that. I need this to be between me and you. Let's let Joe see the world as he see's it, no point giving him things to stress about."

Lauren paused before she completed her thought. This was it. "And with that being said, Darren… it's gotta be Joe. I have to be with him. I am so, so sorry."

Lauren watched as those words sunk in. It was like Darren deflated physically and emotionally. He suddenly looked drained, like the life was taken out of him.

Darren stared at the bag of gummy worms he was holding for a while. A few times Lauren thought he was going to say something because he would open his mouth and take a breath, but then… nothing. Finally Darren wrapped his head around what Lauren had said and had a few questions.

"So you want me to let Walker believe that you're with him and that it's all over between us, when really you're just testing the waters?" His control was fading. As fresh as it was in his mind, Darren wasn't happy with Lauren's decision. He had been supportive before, but now that she hurt him he wasn't quite as open to the whole ordeal. Maybe if he made her feel bad about it she would choose him instead. And then he could win her over for good and never lose her. "You realize that if he knew that he would feel cheated, like he was lied to, and that everything was fake."

Lauren knew Darren too well. She anticipated he might try to take out some anger on her. "Who's to say anything will be fake?"

Darren's eyes lit up at the challenge. "Well, you're going into it knowing that you can leave whenever you want. There won't be any negotiation, leaving him won't matter because it wasn't for real. It was just a test. You're letting him think that you're totally invested in this big relationship with him when really you're just seeing if he's worthy of one! You're afraid, Lauren. You're scared. You don't want to have the underhand. You want to do what you want and get what you want and everyone is just a part of your little game." Darren realized he was taking this almost too far, but what's done is done.

"Seriously?! What happened to 'you're not selfish, you're brave?!' You're just pissed because Walker is getting what he wants. I thought you'd rather not be the test run, I thought you would understand. And I know you really do, you just don't want to."

Darren was shaking his head as she spoke. This was a full-blown argument now. On a level that only two people who really know each other can get to. Because they know each other's limits and aren't afraid to cross them.

"Well I sure as hell don't want to be your second choice! What's wrong with me Lauren, why won't you just be with me?! What did I ever do to make you feel like you're not happy with me? Cause I know you and I know Joe. And you two can goof off and make out all you want, but it'll be just the same as it was 2 years go. It won't mean anything. You'll let him love on you and enjoy that for a while, but as soon as he becomes over bearing you're out. You'll leave him devastated and come right back to me. Where you should have begun, and the only place you'll ever really need to be. Please see that. And God Lauren, I wish so bad that I could tell you that when you come back to me I won't be there. That I'll have moved on and that I could say 'sorry, sucks for you' when you're ready for me to love you. But I'll be there, like a fucking hopeless romantic. I'm always gonna be there."

Lauren wasn't going to let him guilt trip her now. She had her mind made up and wasn't going to let him screw with that. "Well what am I supposed to do Darren?! You tell me the same crap that Walker said last night. All this 'I'll always be there' shit. If both of you are here forever, where are we gonna end up?! Sorry, I'm not really into polygamy, Darren! Someone has to make a decision. And it's gonna be me. Not because I want everything my way, but because you two already have your minds made up. And since what both of you want can't simultaneously happen, I have to choose for you. Sorry, but I do. And my picking Joe isn't necessarily just me choosing him for me, it's also me not picking me for you. You're gonna get someone else. In a few weeks you're moving out of this town, Darren. And you're never coming back. And I'm not coming with you. You have to be the one to move on. You're already almost there. On the verge of leaving, your entire life is about to change. So loosing me will just go along with all that. But with Joe, if he doesn't have me… what does he have? Not to sound full of myself, but if being with me is such a big deal to you guys… I think Joe needs me. You don't. You'll be fine out there."

"Don't blame my leaving on this, Lauren! In the back of your mind you know that when Joe doesn't work out that you'll find your way back to me. Whether I'm in California, New York, Chicago, doesn't matter. We'll make it work. So that's no excuse, and you know it. We're stronger than that. This is about you not wanting to let Walker down and knowing that I can handle the disappointment of not having you. But just because I can handle it better than him doesn't mean it doesn't still hurt."

Lauren watched a tear roll down Darren's flushed cheek. His eyes were searching her desperately. She stayed silent, so he swallowed hard and continued.

"I want to be strong for us. Like I've been, like we've both been, all these years. But I think we've both seen this coming. For so long I've been pretending it was okay. When you were with Dylan I kept a straight face; I knew it wasn't our time yet. And I wish I could do that again now, I honestly do. If you_ really_ think Joe is the way to go I want to act like I'm okay with that. That I'm okay waiting. But I just can't get myself to do it. I've waited so long; I want you now. Joe had his chance. We shared one kiss freshman year, and then suddenly I was shoved into the friend zone, where I've been for three years now. Julia told me you thought we'd be better as friends and that you didn't want to loose me by messing up a relationship. And I respect that. We were probably too young then. But here we are, three years later, and I still want you just as bad as I did that first night. More, a million times more now that I've gotten to know you and since we've become so close. Every day this feeling is getting stronger, and I don't think it's ever going to go away. I know it's not. I can hide it and pretend it doesn't affect me when you give your love to other people, but when do I get to stop doing that? When do I get a chance?"

Lauren knew she had to let him down. He was feeling sorry for himself now and she was still convinced he was trying to guilt his way into a relationship with her. Letting him down was the only way he'd get the picture. If she showed any sign of affection he would take that into account and wouldn't believe her when she said they couldn't be together. She grabbed him by the shoulders and spoke sternly to him. "Darren, listen. We can't be together now. First off, I shouldn't take this much convincing. If we are ever together I want both of us to be fully invested in it and willing. Second, how long we've waited for this isn't a good enough excuse to be together. And you're right, you're leaving isn't a good enough reason either for us to be apart. We shouldn't be looking for reasons at all. When it happens, it will happen. And lastly -this is the most important- you need to get over me. Promise me you'll try your hardest. Because even if I'm happy with Joe, I'll still know that you're out there somewhere waiting. I don't want that guilt on me forever. Please let me go. Please let yourself go. We have to at least try."

At that point she let him go: physically, emotionally, completely.

They both sat back and just looked at each other for a moment. Darren slowly leaned over to grab his guitar and stood up. He gave Lauren one last helpless look then turned to walk away.

"Dare! I thought we agreed I'd tell you everything if you would play me that song?" Darren paused but didn't turn around. He ran his hand through is curly locks and looked at the ground. "I guess we were both disappointed tonight, then" Darren said quietly before he continued down the hill.

Lauren knew she had to let him go. Calling him back now would only complicate things and give false hope. She watched him walk away, looked at the empty blanket and the unfinished meal in front of her, then packed it all up and left. She was right; things would never be the same.

Darren stormed into his apartment. He passed by Joey, who was heading to the kitchen to refill his drink. "Dude! Where have you been? You reek of alcohol… didn't even bother to invite your bros out to the bars tonight?" Darren ignored him and turned to face Joe, who was snuggled up on the couch. Evidently it was movie night.

"Congratulations, man" Darren said in defeat before retreating to his room for the night.

Joe and Joey exchanged confused looks. "What the fuck was that? He's been gone for hours, comes home smelling like someone dumped a bottle of vodka on him, and did you see his eyes? He's been crying." Joe said with bewilderment. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen Darren tear up.

"Should I go check on him?" Joey offered right as Joe felt a vibration in his pocket. He took out his phone and saw who the text was from. "Fuck" Joe said as he sat up abruptly. "It's Lauren." Joe felt a rush of happiness erupt through his body. He couldn't help but smile at his phone as he reread the text that he already knew he would never delete. When he looked up at Joey's concerned face the reality of the situation set in. The reality that Darren would never see him the same way.

Joey looked at him questioningly. "Well? What's going on? Does she know what the deal with Darren is?"

Joe nodded slowly and tried to hide his smile and show more sympathy for his heartbroken friend. In disbelief he said, "Yeah. She chose me."


	8. Chapter 8

The next week passed by slowly as the post-show depression set into the theater group. They stressed as they finished up final projects and exams, prepared for post graduation and summer plans, and avoided the fact that they only had 2 weeks left in school.

Finally weekend arrived. It was one week since the cast party and one week before graduation. This was the final weekend at U of M for many of them. Friday night everyone went out to parties; it was the usual college scene. Now a couple, Joe and Lauren walked hand in hand down the streets of Ann Arbor. As the night ended, Joe carried his beautiful girlfriend home to his apartment where they spent the night together.

As far as Darren went, recently they had only seen him from a distance. Always on the other side of room, whether it was at a party or in a classroom. Darren never came within 30 feet of them so long as he could help it. Not only that, if he had the chance he would leave the room altogether whenever he saw them walk in together. Only one week prior Darren would jump at the opportunity to greet Joe or Lauren. Now, he wanted nothing to do with them. Nothing was the same.

Saturday morning Lauren woke up, still a bit dizzy in the head. She turned and saw her boyfriend sleeping soundly next to her, a sight she'd never grow tired of. She realized it was already almost noon and that she promised Joey she'd meet him for their final 'Saturday Lunch Date' at 1.

It was a tradition they had started last year. They always went to their favorite campus diner and enjoyed lunch and a fun filled discussion about the craziest things they could think of. All their friends knew about this weekly event and the invitation was open to all of them, but this week everyone was so busy that only Joey and Lauren had RSVP'd. That was okay with Lauren though, she wanted to talk to Joey privately anyway.

Lauren rolled quietly off the bed and found a notebook and pen on Joe's desk. She wrote him a quick note thanking him for the great time last night and telling him she was going to lunch. She reminded him what time they planned on meeting up for their date tonight, and told him she was looking forward to it already. She softly tore the sheet from the book and tip toed to Walker's bedside. She laid the paper on top of him, kissed his cheek, grabbed her things, and smoothly exited the room. Joe didn't even stir: mission accomplished.

Lauren stayed quiet as she left the apartment. As soon as she was outside the door she started rearranging her things: getting out her phone, putting on her sunglasses, and trying to stuff her dressy shirt from the previous night into her purse. She kept on a simple white tank top that she had been wearing under it and the skintight black skirt she had worn the night before. As she fiddled with her things she started making her way down the hall, not even realizing that she was inevitably passing Darren's apartment as she headed to the elevator.

She jumped up in a startled fluster when the door flew open, spilling her phone and shirt onto the ground right at Darren's feet. Still half asleep himself, Darren immediately ducked down to grab the items and apologized for running into who he thought was going to be a stranger. But once he kneeled down and saw that what he was picking up was his favorite shirt of Lauren's and a phone identical to hers he froze.

She realized it was him once she saw the dark curls bent down in front of her. Both realizing the awkwardness of the situation, Darren stayed bent over and Lauren backed up a few steps. He didn't want to stand back up and face her and she didn't want lean over and grab her things from him. They paused for a second, and Lauren decided she had to get out. Her head was pounding, she was in a rush, and just couldn't handle an awkward encounter face to face with Darren. So she took off down the hallway, leaving her phone and shirt behind. She would just get one of the Lang's to return them to her later. But for now, crisis averted.

His heart had stopped and he watched as she jogged away. He almost wanted to laugh as she struggled to move her legs in the tiny skirt and high heels. She finally made it safely in the elevator without looking back once. And soon as she was out of sight Darren stood up. He looked at the shirt and phone in his hands and knew what he was going to do.

He walked straight into the next-door apartment without so much as a knock, and headed straight to Joe's room. He didn't know exactly what had happened the previous night, but he could assume and saw Joe lying shirtless in bed. Darren flipped the lights on and roughly threw Lauren's shirt onto Joe's bare chest, unknowingly knocking her note to him off and out of sight. Joe jumped up with a startle, not ready for the cold sensation of Lauren's beaded shirt. Darren didn't even give Joe the chance to get a grasp of the situation; he just started talking. He was completely enraged. "Will you please tell your girlfriend that it might not be the best idea for her to walk home alone the 'morning after' half naked, dropping her clothes everywhere right outside my apartment?! Have some fucking dignity! If you're going to have her spend the night, at least have the decency to walk her home the next morning. And give her a change of clothes, man! Where are your manners!? The poor girl was trying to run out of here with heels still on! Ridiculous!" Darren turned and stormed out without waiting for Joe's reply.

Darren returned to his apartment and recollected himself. Before that crazy fiasco, he was headed out to meet up with his friend and fellow singer/songwriter Charlene. He had been featured in music videos that year for two of her songs: "Skin and Bones" and "Magnolia Wine." Today they were practicing for their gig later at stand up comedy night at one of Ann Arbor's nicest venues. He looked down into his hand and found that he was still holding Lauren's phone. "Guess I'll hold onto this for a while" he thought out loud as he shook of the angry feeling and carried on with his day.

Back in his room, Joe was groggily trying to piece together the previous night and this morning's adventures. He remembered carrying Lauren in last night and tossing her onto the bed. He remembered having some fun before dozing off to sleep. He didn't remember her leaving this morning. He found it odd that she just up and left without waking him or leaving a note. He vaguely remembered Darren bursting in and complaining about how hot Lauren is or something, he forgot. He looked around the room for signs and found Lauren's shirt on the bed. "That's right" he thought "Darren threw this at me… how did he get it?" He saw his phone on the nightstand and called Lauren's number.

Darren was walking out of the apartment building when he heard Lauren's phone go off in his pocket. He grabbed it and took a look at the screen. He saw the caller ID read "Walker 3" and saw that her background was a picture of the couple together. "Disgusting" Darren said with animosity as he ignored the call, silenced the phone, and shoved it back into his pocket.

Totally confused now, Joe decided he'd try texting Lauren. Maybe she just wasn't in a position to answer the phone right now. All he knew was that she was out there somewhere without her shirt, and that she had somehow encountered an angry Darren. He was worried.

He typed anxiously into his phone "good morning gorgeous! I'm impressed with your ninja like sneaking skills- I didn't even hear you leave this morning. But I have your shirt… ;) call me when you get a chance, I'd love to know that you made it home alright" and hit send.

Joe jumped in the shower, got ready, and grabbed some fruit before heading out the door. It'd been almost an hour since he texted Lauren and she still hadn't responded. Very unlike her. He decided he'd go see if he could track her down anywhere and make sure she was okay.

Lauren was in the middle of lunch with Joey. They were using their last lunch to reminisce on some of their favorite memories of the year and shared funny stories. They ordered an ice cream sundae to split for dessert and when the waiter brought it out Joey figured it was as good a time as any to bring up Darren. With the distraction of ice cream in front of her, maybe Lauren wouldn't mind talking about her most uncomfortable topic of discussion.

"So, Darren and I went to that camping goods shop up the road this week. We were looking at tents for the big camp out trip coming up. It's gonna be great."

Lauren nodded slowly. She knew what Joey was getting at. "Sounds awesome! You pick anything out?"

As he answered her question Joey started thinking of ways to steer the conversation back towards Darren since it was clear that Lauren was going to try to deflect any mention of him. "Yeah, I think we've got a few good ones on hold for us. See, Holden figured out how much the cost of the trip would be with gas, buying tents, food, and everything. So he's dividing the total up 16 ways so that everyone who is coming will pay the same thing. He told us that to keep it fairly cheap for everyone that we needed to try and get the cheapest deal on tents. They sell these family tents and had a deal for buy one get one half off. So we're getting two of those. They only are supposed to hold 6, but Darren said we could squeeze 8 into each one. He figured you wouldn't mind snuggling up close with Walker if we run low on space in a tent."

Lauren was pushing the cherry in the sundae back and forth with her spoon as she listened. "Well, Darren's right. I'd actually enjoy that. Glad he noticed." Lauren was a little irritated that Darren was making a deal out of her being with Joe. She told him to forget about her.

Joey ignored her sarcasm and continued. "He hasn't spoken much this past week, but when he does it's either something vitally important or a snide comment about you or Walker. He doesn't joke around anymore. He's super serious. Like he lost his sense of humor. And if I or someone tells a joke around him, he just ignores it and sits there with a straight face. Kinda sucks that my last few weeks with him are spent like that…"

Lauren sincerely felt bad. She didn't want Darren to become a buzz kill for everyone. She knew if he continued this streak she'd talk to him for the sake of everyone else, but only if things got out of hand. But it had only been a week since she gave him the news; maybe he just needed a few more days before he perked back up into his normal silly Darren self. We'll see.

"Oh, he's probably too preoccupied with getting ready to move and stuff. He's pretty stressed… he'll come around." Lauren tried to cheer Joey up. He just gave her a look that said 'you know that's not it.' She sighed and responded. "Fine… I'll talk to him. But it might not be until we're on the camping trip. Can you try to keep him in good spirits until then?" Joey nodded and told her he'd do his best.

Suddenly they heard someone calling out in the distance. Lauren turned to Joey. "Did you hear that?" she said as she looked around. Joey turned to look around too. "Yeah, it sounded like someone said-" "LAAAAAAURRREN!" the voice was right around the corner now. Lauren recognized it and responded. "Joe?! I'm over here!" she called out. Then there he was, Walker, coming over and taking a seat at their outdoor sidewalk café table. "There you are! I've been looking for you all morning! How are you?" He greeted her with a kiss and turned to pat Joey on the shoulder as he sat down. "Hey, buddy! That's right! Today is the infamous 'Saturday Lunch Date!' How could I forget?"

Lauren looked amusedly at her Joe. But sometimes it bugged her a little how forgetful he was. "Babe I left a note with you this morning! Have you just been wandering around campus yelling my name?" She couldn't help but smile at her helpless boyfriend. "Oh, I didn't see a note. And yeah, I didn't know what else to do. I tried your apartment and calling you but no response." He grabbed her hand and smiled sweetly at her. It was adorable and incredibly clear how happy he was he found her.

Lauren laughed as Joe took a bite of her sundae. "Well, I'm glad you're here! And um, I dropped my phone on the way out this morning. I think it's at Darren and the Lang's place" she said shyly, not sure how Joe would respond to the mention of Darren's name.

"That's when you saw Darren! I thought you two ran into each other… he came over for a little wake up call this morning. He dropped off your shirt." Joe smiled as if that was some accomplishment for him. "I think he was a little upset that you weren't wearing it."

Lauren laughed off the awkwardness of the accident. "Yeah, we bumped into each other outside his door. I dropped my shirt cause it startled me and then I got out of there. He didn't leave my phone?"

Without thinking much of it Joe shook his head no and then went on to ask Joey about details for the camping trip. While they talked Lauren tortured herself with the thought that Darren was walking around with her phone. A phone is a very personal item, you don't just let anyone see it. And Darren had it. She didn't think that he'd go through messages or anything, he was more mature than that and understood privacy.

But even if his anger with her got the best of him and he decided he didn't owe her the right of privacy it would just lead to disappointment for him. If he even glanced at her text inbox he'd see that the last message she sent to Julia was from the night he went to dinner with Lauren. His curiosity would spark when he saw his name mentioned and if he read their conversation he'd see what Lauren had initially intended to say that night. The text that read "Alright, Jules. Decision has been made. Me and Darren from here on out. I'm telling him tonight that he's the one I want to be with. Wish me luck!" And Julia's response: "Yay Lo, good luck! Tomorrow I'll welcome Darren aboard the crazy-Lauren-train. He's in for a ride." Lauren almost hoped Darren found those messages. It'd serve him right for being snoopy.

Lauren was pulled back into reality when Joey was asking her about plans for the evening. "Well, I'm heading over to Meredith's to get ready for stand up night. Joe and I are double dating with Brian and Meredith. We're eating at the venue then watching the show, which Brian is gonna be in. You should come too! Bring Jaime, it'd be so much fun!"

Joey agreed and called Jaime on the spot. She agreed to come as soon as she was done helping Julia with one of her final journalism assignments. It was already 3 o'clock, and with the evening plans set in stone Joey, Joe, and Lauren headed back to their apartments. Lauren was only home for a minute to grab her things before walking over to Meredith's to get ready. She had agreed to meet Walker at his apartment with Joey and Jaime at 5 so that she'd be gone by the time Brian came to pick Meredith up. They were having dinner at 5:30 and the show began at 7. Everyone was excited for the night that awaited them.


	9. Chapter 9

The group of four and group of two met up at the venue for dinner. Brian insisted that he and Meredith go over separately because he wanted some alone time to be with her on their second date. Meredith considered herself the luckiest girl she'd ever known.

Jaime and Lauren were lost in girl talk as they walked to the venue. They both looked dashing as ever: each clad in a summer dress with Jaime's blonde hair in relaxed curls resembling Marilyn Monroe and Lauren's hair perfectly straight and pinned half back.

Their dates trailed behind them, talking about the most recent episode of Lost. They were wearing dressy pants and button up shirts. As true gentlemen, both Joe and Joey held the double doors open for the girls as they entered the beautifully decorated building. It was date night in Ann Arbor.

Joey maneuvered through the busy lobby to confirm their reservation with the hostess while Jaime tried to see if she could find Meredith and Brian. Joe took advantage of the alone time and pulled Lauren close to him. She rested her head on his chest as they wrapped their arms around each other. Joe softly placed his lips to the top of her head and then whispered, "You look absolutely stunning tonight. Did I mention that?" He squeezed her lovingly as the world seemed to stop around them. "Mmmm, I don't think I've heard stunning yet. You mentioned lovely and beautiful, but this is the first 'stunning' of the night. And thank you" she said teasingly as she tilted her head up for a kiss. He gladly obliged.

They locked eyes for a minute and Joe tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. He smiled at her; he couldn't stop thinking how lucky he was that he could just kiss her whenever he wanted. She was thinking the same thing. "You are welcome my darling. Thank _you_ for accompanying me this evening. It's an honor" he said sincerely as he grabbed her hand and led her to met up with their friends. They both felt electricity.

When they found the group Lauren gave Meredith a warm hug and a hello to Brian. Soon the hostess was showing them to their table for six. The men pulled out the seats for their dates before taking their own. They were seated slightly to the right of the stage where the comedy acts would perform. During dinner the U of M jazz band was softly humming on stage as the guests ate. It was a pleasant evening, and everyone chatted humorously as they enjoyed their meal.

As dessert was being served, Brian took his leave to head backstage and get ready for his act. Meredith stood up and gave him a peck on the lips to wish him luck. He walked backstage with a smile on his face, ready to face anything.

The announcer for the night came on stage with a mic and stand. He opened up the show for the evening "Welcome everyone to comedy night! We've got some fantastic acts lined up straight from the University of Michigan's best and brightest improv students! But first, we've got a musical opening act that is sure to blow you off your feet. Also a student graduating next weekend, please give it up for Charlene Kaye!

Surprised to be seeing their friend, the group cheered rowdily as Charlene took the stage with her guitar. "I didn't know she was performing tonight, did you guys?" Jaime asked the group. Everyone shook their heads no and excitedly watched as Charlene hooked her guitar up to the amp and adjusted the microphone.

"How are you guys doin' tonight?!" Charlene enthusiastically asked as the crowd roared with approval. "Great! I'm gonna play a few of my original songs tonight, I hope you enjoy…" And with that Charlene reeved up her guitar and went to town.

After a few numbers Charlene grabbed the mic stand and moved it a few steps to the left. "Thank you guys! I have one more song, and I'd like to call out my friend Darren Criss to sing with me." The room applauded loudly as Darren made his way with a mic and stand on stage. He set them down before walking over to hug Charlene.

Lauren and Joe exchanged shocked looks. Joey cheered wildly for his friend and Meredith and Jaime gave Lauren concerned glances. Jaime leaned over the table and whispered to Lauren "You okay? You want to get out of here till the stand up starts?" Meredith listened in and waited for Lauren's reply. She looked at Joe, who was lost in his own world giving Darren a death glare, and then turned back to them. "Nah, it'll be alright. I don't want to stop supporting Darren. I want things to be as normal as possible. And in a normal situation we'd all be ecstatic that he's playing. So, I guess let's do that." Meredith and Jaime smiled reassuringly at Lauren. They sat back and faced Darren on the stage. Jaime and Lauren clapped for Darren and Meredith shouted out an encouraging "Woooo!" towards the stage.

Lauren tried to get comfortable in her seat and ended up curling up against Joe, who put his arm tightly around her. They stared up at the stage at the one and only man they both knew could put their relationship in jeopardy. Joe couldn't stop thinking about how he would do anything to make sure Darren doesn't steal Lauren from him. Lauren was focused on only seeing Darren as her playful friend. "Don't get caught up in his voice" she thought to herself as he thanked the crowd for their support.

Charlene and Darren sang "Skin and Bones" for the crowd before Charlene exited the stage. When Darren stayed on stage Lauren reacted uncomfortably and Joe rubbed her arm with his hand that was around her and pulled her even closer.

Darren approached the mic "I only have time for one song for you guys, so I wanted to try out this new one I've been working on. I just wrote it… so forgive me if I fumble a little with the words. But I think it should come pretty naturally; the feeling is fresh. It's not exactly the cheeriest tune, but it's pretty upbeat and I really want to try it out. And it's sort of a special occasion: I've got some friends in the house tonight." For the first time since he had taken the stage, Darren looked over at the group's table. None of them had even realized he knew they were there. " Darren spoke smoothly while looking directly at Lauren. "So for those of you who are tired of waiting… here it is."

Lauren immediately recognized the tune. At the cast party he hadn't sung any words but she remembered the sharpness and intensity of the rhythm. This was it. This was the song he promised to play her.

(*we interrupt this story for a brief message from the author: I do not own this song, I did not write it. Darren did. In real life and in this story. Just to be clear. The lyrics I'm using are from an actual live performance of this song: go to youtube then backslash "watch?v=2bs3EaWejDY". That's pretty much the way I picture he performs it in this story. So that's the link if you want to visualize or hear him perform it this way*)

Darren sang soulfully.

"I hate where I'm at… acting crazy like that. I know that I've been wrong. It's somethin I've been working on. And I don't know what to do. It's changin me it's killin you. I'd tear out my insides if I could…I would, but I don't know if it'd do me good. Oh I'm sorry friends, I'm sorry lover, to put us all in this mess. I know we still have each other, but I'm in distress. Cause every time that I feel like I've figured it out…oh I can't seem to figure it in. It's got nothing to do with me; it's not even you, you see. It's part of my chemistry. It's this jealousy."

Everyone at the table was in awe of his emotion. He wasn't looking at anyone; just at his guitar, the back wall, or with eyes closed. But even without his eye contact Lauren knew he was singing it directly to her. He was feeling it for her. She listened closely and, against her better judgment, let the words sink in.

"I'm in absolutely no position to be so needlessly unkind. When I'm the one writing this fiction… I make it real in my mind. Oh it drives me crazy in the morning. I'm like, who is this monster in the mirror? I try to get the steam to fog it out, but I still just can't get it clear. Oh, and I can't stand what I'm feeling. No. It's just like poison in my veins. I know that I'm speaking, but I don't know what I'm saying. Cause every time that I feel like the world just got lighter, it seems that my muscles give out. It's got nothing to do with me; it's not even you, you see. It's part of my chemistry. It's this jealousy. And I'm hearing your voice. Babe, you know it's your choice. Ah, maybe so. And I know it's no use, but it's the only excuse I know, no, no. Let me go."

He was getting so into it; he meant every word. It was almost as if he was making parts up on the spot as he felt the feelings. He was being passionate, angry, and sexy all at once. She listened closely and was consumed with his sultry voice.

"Mmm, let me go. Ha, let me go. Oh, let me go now, please… please. Now let's be for real for a second, alright, I…I feel just like a child, you know? Someone could be takin all my toys. So call me dumb, call me wild… call me wild. But, that's the thing with little boys. Oh, and I can't wash it out in the shower, or drink it off at the bar. This sugar's gone sour, and it's gone way too far. Oh, cause every time that I feel like I'm riding so high, feel on top of the world, the bitch just keeps tellin me 'no'. It's got nothing to do with me; it's not even you, you see. It's part of my chemistry. And oh Christ it's killing me. This demon is filling me. It's this jealousy. Oh, and I just can't believe in this jealousy, this jealousy for you. Oh this jealousy, this jealousy for you."

Darren finished the song and said a quick thank you before walking off stage. Right before he was behind the curtain he snuck a quick glance at Lauren. Of course she caught him, her eyes were glued to him waiting for just that opportunity. She felt a sick pang in her stomach. She released herself from Joe's grasp and excused herself. "I gotta go to the rest room" Lauren said confusedly as she stammered away from the table. When Joe started to get up to walk her out she stopped him. "It's okay, Joe, I'm good. You watch the show. I'll be right back." She gave him the most assuring smile she could muster then exited the room.

She just needed some air she decided and headed out one of the side exits of the venue. She stood alone in a small side street. There were a few parked cars and a faint yellow light coming from the flickering street lamp. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she leaned against the cool brick wall.

She replayed his performance in her head. 'How the hell did he get that written so quickly?' she thought to herself. She didn't even know he had those kinds of feelings until 8 days ago. He didn't know she'd choose Walker until 7 days ago either. So if that song was in progress at the cast party, what the heck was he so jealous of?

Lost in thought, Lauren was caught of guard when the backstage exit door opened about 10 feet down the building. She watched as Charlene and some of the jazz band members carried their instrument cases away from her towards the backside street facing the rear of the building and load them into their respective vehicles. Lauren thought about calling out and congratulating her friend Charlene, but right now she wanted to be alone and didn't want Charlene to come ask her what was wrong. So she watched as the band and singer drove off in the opposite direction and got back to her daydreaming.

The doors creaked open again as Darren struggled with two guitar cases. He finally got through the door and headed away from her to what Lauren now realized was his car. He didn't see her, but Lauren was already yelling before her head could tell her to stop. She suddenly felt anger. He wasn't supposed to be making her feel bad about her decision and she wasn't going to let him get away with it. "HEY. COME HERE." She yelled sternly down the alleyway. Confused, Darren turned and saw the small girl storming towards him. She looked just as angry as he did tired, but he couldn't help but notice how unbelievably outstanding she looked that night.

She nearly ran into him she was coming on so strong but halted to a stop inches from him. "What is your problem?! What the hell was that!" she yelled at him while searching his face. He was still shimmering with sweat from his set and she hadn't noticed how tired and puffy his eyes were until now. Frankly, he looked like he was going to pass out from exhaustion any second now.

He was not in the mood to deal with her yelling at him. "What, Lauren? It's a song. Sorta what I do, shouldn't be much of a surprise. And I have no problem. Weren't you listening? That song is an apology for being jealous asshole. It's about how I can't help it, how it controls me, but I want it to let me go. I'm trying. I realize I've been a dick this week, trust me, I know. I realize it… I just am still figuring things out."

Lauren was confused. She thought the line in the song "let me go" that he seemed to repeat like a billion times was aimed at her. That had upset her more than anything because she had said those exact words to him the night she disappointed him, and in the song he made that line sound like she was the one still holding on. But he wasn't talking about her, he was talking about the jealousy. He wanted the jealousy to let him go, not her. He was trying to get over her, just like she asked him to. Lauren felt bad for misunderstanding, but she still felt like arguing. "Well, how was that song already written last week?! We hadn't even admitted our feelings yet!"

Darren calmly responded, "It wasn't supposed to be those lyrics. I had the main melody figured out but it was just supposed to be a song called 'Chemistry' about how we go so well together. I was going to play it for you until you broke me. I told you it wasn't ready yet at the cast party. That wasn't true, I just wasn't ready yet. And I thought at dinner I'd finally have the courage and that the moment would be right, but then… yeah." His eyes grew darker and his tone went from calm to cutting. "This past week has been hell, Lauren. I've just been laying awake all night- I can't sleep. And the thought that I had even written a love song about you tore me to pieces and the bitterness I felt towards you and…him… made me sick. So I redid the lyrics. And it's not hard to complete a song that fast, Lauren. Especially when that feeling is all you think about and you've got to sit through hours of lonely solitude every night when everybody else is enjoying the pleasure of sleep. When I know you're wrapped up in his arms sleeping in his bed next door. It wasn't hard."

Lauren just stared at him. She felt the tears coming on and wanted to get out of there as soon as she could. She didn't want to think about or respond to what he just said so she sternly said the only thing she had left to say to him. "Give me my phone."

He almost looked amused. "That's right… your phone. You're very fast by the way; I've never seen someone run from an awkward situation quite as quickly as you. And I returned your top to Walker: you're welcome. I actually don't have your phone on me right now though, but thanks for assuming I'd never let it leave my sight."

She looked down into his hand and noticed what he was holding. Before he had the chance to pull away she excitedly yelled "Fine!" and grabbed his phone out of his hand. She took off back toward the entrance, turning around to yell out "I'll give back yours when you give back mine!"

With that, she disappeared behind the big metal doors. Darren stood there for a moment. He repeated her final words in his head. "I'll give back yours when you give back mine." As he slowly turned to walk to his car he couldn't help but think she was right. But not regarding their phones. He found that the statement held most true about their hearts.

Lauren quietly made her way back to the table. The adrenaline was still pumping after her attack on Darren, and even though it was a serious argument there was still that touch of fun between them when she ran away that made her want to laugh. She tucked his phone away in her purse so that no one would see it and snuggled her way back into Joe's arms.

He looked down to her with a bit of concern. "Everything all right?" She looked up at him with wide eyes; she knew any trace of her almost tears were washed away with the excitement stealing Darren's phone. "Fine" she said with a smile before giving him a kiss. They both turned and watched Brian take the stage for his stand up act. Meredith stood up and clapped for him while Jaime and Joey made as much encouraging noise as possible by cheering and clinging their silverware against their dishes.

Lauren leaned into Walker's chest and inattentively watched the performance. Her thoughts were stuck on her encounter with Darren, the song, and deciding what she was going to do with his phone. Or just with him, in general. Every so often she felt the vibration of Joe's laugh rumble through his body, causing her to hold him closer. But while she was there physically, her mind was with the boy who had written her a song.


	10. Chapter 10

**I know this one's a little shorter, but the next part of the story takes place a different day so I decided to separate them with a chapter break. Let me know what you think/where you want this to go!**

The rest of the night went smoothly. After 'comedy night', the group stopped for celebratory drinks in honor of Brian's accomplishments. Afterwards Joe asked Lauren if she wanted to come over for a movie at his place. She accepted the offer and they curled up on the futon in his living room.

Lauren heard the phone go off in her purse and instinctively grabbed it, forgetting that she had traded phones with 'the enemy.' For some reason it seemed like a playful game now. If Darren wouldn't accept her relationship with Joe in a serious manner, maybe he'd be more open to it if it were like a game to him.

Everyone has that one couple in their group of friends that you make fun of for being 'so in love it makes you sick.' Maybe Joe and Lauren would need to be that couple to Darren. It might work out better if he could joke around with them about how lovey-dovey they are and didn't have to confront the relationship seriously. Then he could be silly old Darren again.

Pretty into the movie, Lauren glanced at the phone and remembered it wasn't hers when she saw her name appear on the screen. "How did I send a text to my- oooh. Darren" she thought to herself. If Darren had her phone and she had his and his phone was receiving a text from her, that means he was texting her as himself from her phone. Confusing.

She decided since it was Darren texting his own phone it must be intended for her to see and that it was alright for her to open up his messages.

Walker was laying on his back with his head turned to the TV and Lauren was laying half on top, half next to him with her head on his chest and a leg wrapped over his waist. She lay back so she could tilt the phone away from Walkers line of sight. He was pretty preoccupied with the movie and didn't seem to notice.

_"testing, testing, is this thing on? Or has Lopez destroyed you already?"_

Typical Darren texting his phone as if it was alive and would respond to him like a robot. She responded,

_"your precious little phone is in good hands. Mine better be holding up. I swear when I get it back if it has ridiculous calls or pictures or something on it you are dead"_

A few seconds later her... err his... phone vibrated with his reply. Darren never responded to texts that quickly. He must be bored next door in his apartment and knew he could find entertainment by messing with Lauren.

_"hadn't thought of that but great idea! Has anyone ever told you you should have been born into a comic book world? You'd make the perfect side kick for the evil villain trying to wreak havoc on the world."_

_"please. If I wanted to take over the world I'd be the mastermind of the project. But thanks for the compliment?"_

_"just saying, you're good at coming up with evil plans. No wonder you made an awesome Malfoy. I've yet to decide if your tininess and cuteness would work in your favor or not as a super villain."_

_"my favor for sure. Id be deceiving, sneaky and smart: perfect for the job. And did you need something? I'm kinda busy right now"_

She waited to see if this would spark a little fun in him. Him joking about her and Walker was better than acting like they didn't exist, she decided. The only way he'd move on was if he acknowledged the fact the she chose Joe.

_"Awwwww what, babysitting Walker again?"_

She smiled. He went right where she wanted him to. Now she had to rub it in to show him it was okay for him to be playful.

_"I mean if you call hooking up on the futon babysitting ;)"_

She hoped she wasn't going to far. And plus she just made that up, her and Walker were being as innocent as preschoolers right now.

_"and you're taking the time out of your hookup to text me? How sweet ;)"_

"Shit" Lauren accidentally said out loud when she realized her scam had been caught. Joe turned his head automatically to face her. She dropped the phone behind a pillow before he could see it.

She wasn't trying to hide anything from Joe, she just wanted to get Darren on good terms with them before she told him how she did it. She knew that the point of this was to see if she could fit with Joe in a relationship, which so far so good, and if she could handle life with only Joe there to comfort her and not Darren. Nobody ever said she wasn't allowed to talk to Darren, just no flirting or treating him different from any guy. Lauren considered if she'd treat Joey like this if he were the one she had swapped phones with. Joey was completely just a friend to her so he was a fair comparison for how Darren should be. She decided her conversation with Darren thus far was reasonable.

"Laur?" Joe had been trying to talk to her while she was lost in thought. "Sorry, yeah?" she said, focusing her eyes in on him. "I know Toy Story can get pretty exciting, but I didn't think it was at swear worthy level" he rolled over a little so they were both on their sides facing each other. She smiled at his little joke. "It's not... I guess I got a little preoccupied" she put her arms around his neck and wrapped her leg tighter around his waist, moving closer so that she was in complete contact with him. She had to distract him from what she was really thinking about and knew the best way to do it was with her body. She whispered softly in his ear "oops" before kissing him sensually on the neck.

He gave into her touch completely. He couldn't help it; the chemicals were rushing through him. His mood changed from Disney to desire. "God, Laur... I've always known you're an incredibly sexy girl but then every time I get to be this close to you you still blow my mind. Every fucking time."

She just smiled innocently at him with a dangerous look in her eyes, egging him on. He couldn't take it anymore. "Come here" he said with a smile as he went in for the kiss.

Just a few yards away Darren sat in his room next door. He didn't know if she had stopped texting him because she feel asleep, got caught by Joe, or was actually doing what she said she was. He figured if Joe had caught her he would have stormed over here by now and snatched her phone away from him. And he refused to believe it was the last option. "I'm sure she's just asleep" he assured himself as he stared at the ceiling from his bed. It was going to be another sleepless night for Mr. Criss.


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey guys, to make up for the ridiculously short chapter 10, chapter 11 is ridiculously long. I haven't edited it thoroughly cause I'm too excited for you guys to read it, but I'll fix grammar errors eventually. So, please forgive that. :) Let me know what you think, and I'm also interested in how you all feel about… this might be weird… but the more sexual stuff? I don't want to make things uncomfortable to read or anything but, I mean, it's college. That stuff happens. Also, I promise the camping trip is coming! I planned on it starting like 3 chapters ago but I kept coming up with new ideas. But it's coming! I actually haven't written it yet so if you have something you want to see happen let me know! Thanks!**

Sunday afternoon Lauren was in her room starting to pack up her things. Even though graduation wasn't until Saturday, Lauren's last class was Monday and she was leaving the next night to drop her things off at home and spend a few days with family before graduation and the camping trip. Born and raised in Michigan, home wasn't too far from campus. Lauren took a look around. She was going to miss this. The way her furniture was set up, the view from her window, the way the floorboard three steps to the left of the door creaked every time he ran in and jumped on her bed. Everything.

She looked at every item around the room. Living in an apartment, it was all hers. Everything she owned was here. Moving does things to people, it makes them realize what they really have. Lauren walked slowly over to her dresser and examined it. She turned and looked at her bed. Then her desk. The word "heavy" escaped her lips. She intended on packing up everything but a weeks work of clothes, toiletries, her school stuff, and an inflatable mattress with a pillow and blanket. She had rented a moving van to get her things home in and had it parked downstairs. She was currently on the 4th floor. "I'm gonna need some help" she said as she grabbed Darren's phone. She flipped through his contacts trying to find someone she felt comfortable entrusting her personal belongings with and who could help lift her heaviest items. That pretty much narrowed it down to Joe, Joey, Dylan, Holden, and the Langs.

She opened up a new text message inviting them all over to help, figuring a few would be busy and leaving her with two or three moving helpers. She chose her words wisely, knowing that she was on Darren's phone and that everyone would think she was Darren. She might have played it up a bit too much, "Sup' broskies! Lauren needs help moving out of her apartment. You in?" She was about to click send when she caught herself. 'Wait… I can't send this to Joe. He'd get confused as to why Darren was organizing my move out and wonder why his girlfriend didn't ask him herself" she thought as she erased his name from the recipients. No Joe for the project…she had no way of contacting him without giving up her phone secret. She sent out the message to the rest of the boys and waited.

Over the next a few minutes she got her responses from Holden and the Langs. When her phone started ringing she expected it to be either Joey or Dylan and wasn't planning on picking it up since she couldn't really mock Darren's voice on the phone. When she saw the call was coming from her number she answered confusedly. "Um…hi?" Darren immediately got to the point. "Sup broskies? Really? That's how you think of me?" Lauren was even more confused now. "How did you- oh no. Who are you with?" She was laughing a little as she realized her mistake. "Joey, we are picking up the tents. Everything was going splendidly until he received a text from me while I was standing next to him asking him if he could help you move out. I think someone is taking advantage of her phone privileges, texting people without permission" he said with humor. Lauren laughed harder. "Well! I need help and you've left me no other means off reliable communication! And I only texted Joey, Nick, Matt, Brian, and Dylan. All about the moving thing. But Brian said he can't cause he's with Meredith, the Lang's are preparing their final monologue, and Dylan hasn't responded. So I need help!" She heard Darren talking to the cashier before answering her. "Where's Joe?" he asked casually. A big improvement from a few nights ago… apparently all he needed was the game. "I didn't ask him cause I can't text him from your phone!" "Oh, well he can't anyways cause he's studying today." Lauren got a suspicious look on her face. "And how do you know that?" Without skipping a beat Darren answered her, "He asked if you'd wanna go with." "And how do you know _that_?" "He texted you about it." "DARREN! When?! And did you answer him for me?" "Gahhh! Calm down! About 20 minutes ago… and no. I don't know your life, I don't know what you're doing today. What if you were busy? Don't wanna get his wittle hopes up. Or anything else up…" he said with sass. "Okay- first off: EWWW. Inappropriate! Second: ask Joey if he can help me out today. And ask nicely, I really need help." She heard him mumble something to who she presumed was Joey. "…Okay. He'll help. So we'll see you in 10?" Lauren stopped pacing around her room. "Um… we? I don't remember asking for your help. JOEY will be here in 10. With my phone. And maybe a few boxes? I think I'll need them" she said as she looked nervously at her overflowing closet. "But you need me. You just said you really need help. And if you want your phone then I'm gonna be the one to give it to you. Remember you have mine too and I need to ensure it'll be a fair trade off. So _we'll_ you in 10… better make it 15. We gotta find boxes." And with that he hung up the phone.

When she heard some ruckus outside her door Lauren walked over to answer it. She stepped back and watched with a smirk as Joey and Darren attempted to fit through the door with family sized tents strapped to their backs and arms full of empty cardboard boxes. They finally made it through, put their things down and looked up at her with anticipation. "Glad you make it, gentlemen. Right this way" Lauren said as she steered them to her room. "What's with the tents?" she asked coolly as she handed the boys water bottles when thy passes the kitchenette. The boys both plopped down on her bed and opened their waters. They had worked up a bit of a sweat carrying everything up 4 flights of stairs since the elevator was broken. "You're emptying out your room today, right?" Joey began. "And we need a place to store them till we go camping. So…" "Right, Right, I gotcha" Lauren started separating the boxes they had brought her. "And thank you guys so much for these, they'll be a huge help."

Darren was glancing around the room. "Um… Laur? I thought you said you needed help moving out?" he asked worriedly. Lauren looked at him confusedly. "Yeah, I did. I mean, I do." Darren walked around and picked up stray pieces of random stuff she had lying all over the place. "K, where's the stuff you want us to move? Don't tell me I'm looking at it…" "You see it, everything must go!" "Lauren, moving and packing are not the same thing." "Well I need help either way so let's do this!" she said excitedly as she handed them each boxes.

The boys over dramatically sighed and took their boxes. Joey immediately started shoving everything off of Lauren's bedside table into a box. "Joseph Michael Richter! What do you think you're doing! It's gotta be organized, like clothes together, shoes together decorations together, books together. Like that." she showed him by putting her raincoat in one box and her running shoes in another. "Now you try."

Joey got a determined look on his face. He grabbed her Michigan hoody and put it with the raincoat. Then he grabbed a pair of her heels (after announcing to the room how cute they were) and put them with the running shoes. He looked at her with anticipation. "Exactly" she said with a smile as she nudged him before starting to add to the boxes herself.

"Hey, can we get some tunes goin in here?" Darren called from the side of the room he had wandered off into. "Sure, you know what I like" Lauren replied without looking up from rummaging through her closet. Darren whipped out his iPod and set it to his Lauren playlist.

It might sound ridiculous, but he had made one especially for the music she liked for all the times they car-pooled, hung out, and studied together. Which was a lot. She had a unique taste, and it just made more sense to him to have a playlist for her so that he didn't have to trudge through his music library every time he wanted to play her favorites.

Lauren sang along happily from the closest and Darren started taking it all in. This was it, the end of the era. College was over and now here he was packing up her room with her. Lauren would be the first of their friends to move out and when the first person packs it just makes it real.

He remembered the memories they had shared in that room. Hanging out before and after rehearsals, studying for exams, running lines for "Little White Lie" where they had to practice their kissing scene. While Darren thoroughly enjoyed that scene, he never counted staged kisses as real. Even though he felt something, they were still acting and Lauren was portraying the hot stuck up girl "Tanya" and it just wasn't the same as the one time they really had actually kissed. Plus it was back in 2007 when she was involved in her first fling with Walker.

They had had numerous movie nights, holiday parties with their friends, and group meetings here. Lauren had been in this apartment since sophomore year. Everyone else had moved around campus but she stayed put every year. She had a killer view, was close to classes and restaurants, and rent was amazing. She lucked out. Darren remembered once when he had forgotten to pay his rent and had to crash on Lauren's couch for a week until he had his money. That was a fun week. She turned his mistake into a reward. They stayed up late making ridiculous snacks to eat while watching the weirdest movies they could find, one night even built and obstacle course from one end of the apartment to the other where they couldn't touch the ground because it was "lava." Such a good time. They told each other stories and played pranks on each other. It was like an extended sleepover.

Darren was excited for the camping trip cause ideally he would get to relive living with Lauren for a week again. Of course he'd be sharing the experience with all their friends, but even better. He loved the idea of seeing her first thing when he woke up and falling asleep after talking to her for hours. He couldn't wait.

Darren continued packing picture frames and things from Lauren's dresser and walls. He stopped and looked at each one, usually remembering when it was taken. Then he carefully placed it all into a special box. He knew he'd probably never see it again.

When Lauren was done packing shoes in her closet she moved to her dresser to start on clothes. Darren was standing next to it moving at the speed of a snail as he closely examined everything he touched. "What are you doing?" Lauren asked curiously as she approached. "Just looking. Remembering." Darren replied carelessly. He continued, "This may sound stupid, but I'm gonna miss all your stuff. This apartment is sorta like a second home for me. Like part of me is moving away with it." Lauren smiled and rolled her eyes jokingly. "Oh, Darren. Always such a drama queen." He looked at her and smiled. "But yeah, I'm gonna miss it too" she said shyly to the drawer she was opening.

He checked over his shoulder to make sure Joey was still packing up pots and pans in the kitchenette and turned up the music to ensure he couldn't eaves drop. "So, how's Joe going for you?"

Lauren stopped folding her tank tops for a second. She was caught off guard, but was determined to make everything as normal as possible. "Uh, pretty good actually. We're getting along better than I thought. You know Walker and I, always getting into arguments and stuff. But we've been doing great. So… yeah." She trailed off and kneeled down to put a pile of neatly folded tank tops into the box, making a freak out face while her back was turned to Darren.

Darren responded to the news well. Apparently he was getting used to the new situation. "Awesome. So you in it for the long haul then?" Lauren raised her eyebrows and shrugged her shoulders. "We'll see how summer goes. Me and Jules are going to New York right after camping. We finally found an affordable apartment so we're going all in. Joe is very supportive of it, but I've never been much good at long distance." Darren nodded slowly and pursed his lips. "Yeah, Dylan…" he said quietly. She glared at him from the corner of her eye. They both were thinking about last summer when Lauren called Darren balling her eyes out about her breakup with Dylan and ranting about how she sucks at relationships. He comforted her for hours and sent her a care package in the mail the next day. Lauren had called Julia as well, but she was out of town with family and couldn't talk when Lauren was at her lowest. Of course Lauren didn't blame her for that, it was something Julia had no control over, but in the meantime Darren was there.

There was an awkward pause. "New York, huh? Sounds awesome. You excited?" Darren moved away from the touchy subject of Joe. And Lauren was happy he did. "Duh, that city has no idea what it has coming. They better start warning locals about Juls and I coming to town" Lauren said matter-of-factly. Darren nodded his head and made a 'you are crazy' face as he packed up the last of the trinkets and decorations around the dresser.

"You're gonna let me stay with you when I come visit, right? Show me around?" he shifted his weight and collided into her a little for emphasis. Lauren made an excitedly sarcastic face, like she had a great idea. "Sure, Dare! I'm sure Julia would love to give up her bed for you! Or you could just take the floor. Either way's fine with me." She smiled innocently at him. He wasn't even packing anything at this point he was so caught up with his conversation with Lauren. He fiddled with a knob on the dresser and responded. "Actually, I was hoping you and I could cuddle up those nights… we're so little I'm sure we'd both fit." They both laughed at his semi-serious joke. "Oooooh Darren. Such a kidder" Lauren said as she forgetfully opened up her undergarments drawer.

As soon as Darren saw the contents he couldn't resist being obscenely inappropriate. "Mmm, let me help you pack that drawer up…" Lauren slammed the drawer shut when she saw what he was talking about and tried to hide her smile. "Shut up you psychopath!" she said as he tried to open it up again while she leaned against the dresser so he couldn't. It's hard not flirting with Darren when he flirts so hard with you.

She managed to shove him back to trip over and onto the bed, and while he was down she quickly emptied her bras and panties into a box and shut it. "Tease!" Darren yelled from the bed as Lauren proudly walked over to jump up and stand above him. She put a foot on his chest like she had conquered a wild animal and giggled while she yelled "Take it back!" Darren looked up at her, clearly enjoying his view. He grabbed her ankle and took her down and yelled "Neeverrr!"

She collapsed in the bed next to him, both of them laughing harder than they had for days. When they settled down they both just stayed on the bed, lying peacefully side-by-side. "I don't wanna move" Lauren said bluntly. "I don't want you to" was Darren's response.

After a few more hours of packing/messing around, the trio finally had the place clear. The boys both ended up stripping down to just shorts while they carry out the furniture and boxes; it was nearly May and getting ridiculously hot, especially for Michigan's notoriously cool weather. Once they were finished loading the truck Joey had to go to work on a finals project. Darren offered to stay and help Lauren inflate her air mattress.

"This place looks abandoned" Lauren said sadly when they reentered her empty apartment. All that was left was her makeshift bed, a suitcase, backpack, and the tents. The tents. Darren smiled as he headed over to grab one. "I've got an idea. Let's pretend we're on our camping trip already. It'll be fun, and then you don't have to sleep in a disappointing vacant room all by yourself." He opened up the tent bag and the two of them spent the next 20 minutes figuring out how to assemble the thing. This was also going to be helpful on the camping trip when they could show everyone how it's done.

After everything was set up they both crawled into the tent and got the air mattress prepared. They had started packing at about 3:30 and it was now a bit after 8. The sun had gone down and, after they turned off the lights to make the experience more realistic, the moonlight was what lit up the room. They sat together in the tent and talked for a while.

"You remember when you helped me move in 3 years ago?" Lauren asked. Darren smiled and nodded and quietly admired the way the moonlight made her eyes glow. She nodded too, "Well, now we've come full circle." They thought about it all for a second before Darren responded. "From beginning to end. It's been you and me, huh, Laur?" Lauren tilted her head to the side and traced the design on the bottom of Darren's shoe. "Guess so. We've been us for a long time now." They shared a quaint smile before Lauren's phone went off in Darren's pocket.

He wanted to just ignore it and carry on with their heart-to-heart, but Lauren's eyes widened with eagerness. "Who is it?" she said as she realized she had never answered Joe's text about studying earlier and that it was probably him. Unenthusiastically, Darren reached into his pocket and fished out her phone. He looked at the screen and felt his heart drop a little. "Walker" he said as he looked up and met her eyes.

More than anything he wanted her to let him to silence the phone and tell him 'It's okay, I'll talk to him later" so that their time together could go uninterrupted. But she was trying to be loyal to Joe.

"Oh! Let me see?" Darren half smiled and handed her the phone. 'Don't let this get to you, she chose him. It's not your time yet' he reminded himself as he watched her eyes light up at the screen. "Geez! He texted me 8 times today, and 3 missed calls. And my mom called last night?! Darren!" she laughed as she kicked him playfully.

"Well! I couldn't answer it! What was I gonna say?! 'Hey Mrs. Lopez, it's Darren. Your daughter and I had a fallout so I stole her phone to keep the friendship alive. Sorry!'" he laughed at the made up conversation until he saw her face. She looked a little heartbroken.

"Whaaat? But everything's good. Did you wanna stop being friends?" she looked almost scared. Darren couldn't help but crack a smile at her freakout. "No, no, Laur, no! I don't. It's just for a while there it was rough. I mean, we sorta didn't speak to each other for a week. That's the first time since I met you that that happened. I almost thought that we were done." Lauren looked a little relieved. "Okay… but it was just a phase, right? We're good?" He smiled and brought her in for a hug. "Of course we're good. Things took a little getting used to but now we're okay." Lauren held Darren tightly. "Good. I don't ever want to be done with you."

And on that note she texted Joe just to let him know she was sorry she couldn't make it to study with him, that she had misplaced her phone but had it back now, and that she'd talk to him the next day. Then she silenced it a put it away to continue her talk with Darren. She owed it to him after everything they'd been through. They talked about life and we're they've been and we're they are going into the night. They eventually both feel asleep in the tent. When Darren woke up the next morning he realized where he was and who he was with. It was a perfect moment.

He lay there and daydreamed until Lauren woke up. They bashfully said good morning to each other and tried to play down the fact that they had just spent the night together. They crawled back out of the tent to face the sunlight. Darren got some breakfast together from the little shelf left of food Lauren had left while she showered and got ready. He walked her to class where they switched back phones for good before saying bye. "I'll see you at graduation, and then we'll have fun camping for real." He squeezed her hand. "Have a safe drive home tonight, Lauren. I'll see you soon!"

They hugged goodbye before Lauren walked into her classroom and took a seat. She pulled out her phone to examine the damage Darren had done. She knew from checking last night that her messages and calls were okay. She opened up her photos and saw a new album she hadn't seen before. She selected it and started at the beginning.

The first photo was taken in one of U of M's auditoriums. The same one Darren and Lauren met in during theater orientation freshman yeah. The focus of the picture was a sheet of paper that someone (she figured it was Darren's hand) was holding up. The paper read: "Dear Lauren,"

She flipped to the next photo. It was taken in the classroom where they had their first class together. Again, a hand was holding up a paper. This one said "If you're reading this then I gave your phone back. Yay!"

Lauren smiled and turned to the next one. It was taken out side of Darren's freshman dorm room, where they had shared their first kiss. Lauren quickly realized these pictures were going to create a message to her and that they were all taken at places where Lauren and Darren had a 'first.' She went through the pictures to reveal her full message from him.

"Dear Lauren,

If you're reading this then I gave your phone back. Yay! I hope you recognize where each of these photo's were taken. I'll never forget the memories we shared here. I'm going to miss U of M, but mostly I'm just going to miss experiencing it next to you. I wish you the absolute best of luck as we leave this place. Follow your dreams and I know you'll be amazing. I only wish I could be by your side. But this isn't the end for us, you'll be in my heart forever. I hope you know how much you mean to me. We will find each other again someday. Until then, my love, I will truly miss you.

-Darren :) !"

Lauren felt a tear fall down her cheek. She opened up her backpack and grabbed a paper and pen. Similar to the ones in his pictures, she wrote a message for him, took a picture of it, and sent it to him.

Darren was almost back at his apartment when he got the photo message from her. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw it. "I love you. There's nothing else to it but that."


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

**After much delay… please enjoy chapter 12! As always, feel free to review and let me know where you see the story going. It's winter break now, so I have time to write again and I'll be updating several times a week for the next month. Thanks again for reading!**

Finally graduation day had arrived. Darren walked across the stage with a smile on his face and nothing holding him back. He had everything: the diploma, the promise of a successful future, and now the girl. His girl.

He must have relived that past Monday thousands of times in his head. During class, between classes, in the shower, before bed… she was the first, last, and pretty much only thing that crossed his mind all week. He remembered exactly how he felt the second he received the text that changed it all. It gave him the push he needed to go after what he wanted, what he needed, and to refuse to step aside. He dropped everything and ran straight to where he had dropped Lauren off. She was taking a final so he couldn't just barge in, although he seriously considered it, so he ended up pacing back and forth outside the door for 50 minutes until Lauren made her appearance. Off course she was caught off guard. She knew what she had done was ballsy, but seeing Darren standing there waiting for her was the last thing she had expected. He'd never forget the look on her face. They locked eyes for a moment and both knew how each other felt, they didn't have to hide it any more. Darren couldn't contain himself. He walked up to her, grabbed her rather powerfully, and just kissed her. He kissed her with more passion than he had ever kissed anyone in his life. She returned the kiss with just as much urge and pushed her body as close to his as she could. She wanted to know what it felt like to have be as physically close to him as possible. He lifted her off the ground so that her legs wrapped tightly around his waist and they shared the most beautiful moment either of them had ever had…until Joe walked up.

"WHAT THE FUCK DUDE!" Joe wasn't playing around. He threw himself between the couple, not even checking to make sure Lauren was okay as she crashed to the ground. Darren's eyes looked past the enraged Joe to his fragile girl on the ground. "Lauren!" he dodged a punch intended for his face and headed straight for Lauren's side. "Are you oka-" Before he could finish his sentence Joe grabbed him from behind and tossed him in the opposite direction. "Don't you DARE touch her! She's mine Darren! You don't get her! Don't touch her, don't talk to her, don't even LOOK at her! You don't deserve her! You get everything! But not this, you don't get Lauren! Over my dead body!" And with that Joe lunged at Darren, taking him to the ground. Joe started firing out punches as Darren desperately defended himself. Lauren was immediately back on her feet. She didn't dare try to break up the fight by hand, so she just yelled her heart out. "JOE! Get off him! Calm down! Joe!" Soon all the ruckus had stirred the attention of the professor who was still in the lecture room. The tall, broad man had the strength that Lauren lacked to physically pull apart the violent Joe and struggling Darren. Finally the professor had Joe's arms behind his back and pulled him into the classroom. All the while, Joe was spitting out every hurtful thing he could come up with to Darren. "You asshole! You think you can just have everything you want! You don't deserve anything Darren! You are the shittiest person I've ever met. Go fuck off, and never even think about talking to me again, because I don't want anything to do with a douche like you!" Soon the doors slammed shut with Joe out of sight and only his muffled insults escaping the building.

Lauren's eyes shot to Darren. He lay face up on the sidewalk, no sign off movement. She ran to his side and grabbed his hand. There was blood all over his face with the exception of two dewy streaks from where his tears had washed it away. He opened his mouth and attempted to speak, but the wind was knocked out of him and prevented words from escaping his swelling mouth. Tears immediately started to fall from Laurens eyes as she tore off her cardigan and carefully dabbed Darren's face clean from the blood. "It's okay Dare, I promise everything will be okay. Just hang in there, baby, we're gonna get you help."

She pulled out her phone and dialed Joey's number. As soon as he picked up she shakily told him what she needed him to do. "Hey, Darren's hurt. Bad. I need you to come pick us up outside the English building. Run. Please." At this point Lauren was full on sobbing and desperate and Joey could tell. Within a couple minutes Lauren could see Joey sprinting down the sidewalk toward them. She looked down into Darren's eyes and squeezed his hand. He tried to smile and squeezed back. Throughout this entire time he was worried that in his eyes she could see his pain and embarrassment, but he was wrong. All that Lauren could see when she looked at the shaken, scared man laying next to her was the love and courage that he had. Lauren could not have loved Darren and hated Joe more than she did at that moment.

"I was just a few blocks away, and I ran straight here" Joey said out of breath as he fell to the ground next to Darren. Without so much as asking what happened, Joey tore his backpack open to reveal a first aid kit. "I knew this thing would come in handy someday. And you guys always made fun of me for it." Lauren and Darren both rolled their eyes as Joey opened the kit. "Here are some disinfectant wipes. Use these to finish cleaning up the blood. I'll start bandaging things up and try to stop the bleeding." It seemed that Joe's knocking Darren to the ground had left some contact scrapes on Darren's arms and legs from Darren's skin sliding across the pavement, and there was one on the side of his face from Joe pushing his face into the cement. Other than that it was just a pretty bad bloody nose from one of the few good punches Darren had let Joe get on him. As the two worked on Darren, Joey finally worked up the courage to ask. "So who was it?" He was afraid of the answer. "Joe." Lauren said quietly. Joey felt his stomach turn as he swallowed hard and nodded.

After a few more minutes of silently tending to Darren's wounds, everything seemed under control. Joey grabbed his phone and called Nick to come pick them up and take them to their apartment. Lauren carefully started moving Darren one body part at a time to make sure nothing was broken. She grabbed his hands and tried to look optimistically into his eyes. "Okay, I'm gonna lift your arm. If even starts to hurt just a little then close your eyes and I promise I'll stop." She moved his forearm so his arm bent at his elbow. Darren's eyes stayed wide open and locked on her the entire time. She did the same to his other arm: his eyes stayed wide open.

Once it was decided that none of his limbs were broken, Joey and Lauren carefully lifted Darren so he was sitting up. After a few moments of looking extremely dizzy, Darren slowly nodded his head to show that he was all right. He slowly began to mumble out a few indistinguishable noises as Nick pulled up with the car. Joey and Nick carefully loaded him into the back seat with Lauren. Once they were set to go, Joey peeked through the car window to Nick in the driver's seat. "Hey, I think I'm gonna go check on Joe. Just keep Darren off his feet for the rest of the day and get him fluids. I'll call you guys later on." Nick and Lauren nodded and headed back to Darren and the Lang's apartment. Joey turned back toward the English building to face Joe.

In the car, Darren lay with his head resting on Lauren's lap. Still unable to make out full words, he looked up and mouthed "I'm sorry" to Lauren. She soothingly ran her fingers through his hair. "Don't be. You have nothing to be sorry for. If anything, I should be thanking you. Seriously Dare, I don't ever want you to apologize for that again. It's not your fault." She grabbed his hand and tenderly brought it to get lips. "Let's just get you better."

Joey slowly creaked the giant wooden door open to the lecture hall. He popped his head in to find Joe sitting in the abandoned room alone, absentmindedly staring at the ground. Joey walked in and took a seat next to him. They sat there in silence for a while; Joey knew that Walker would talk when he was ready.

After what seemed like an hour Walker spoke up. "Is she okay?" Joey was pulled out his own trance and looked at Joe. He could see he too had been crying and that this was just as hard on him as anyone else. Joey nodded and responded "A little shaken, but I think she'll be alright." Walker continued staring at the ground for a while and quietly sighed. "You know I can't control it sometimes." Joey nodded again and patted Walker on the back. "I know. They know too."

Walker didn't respond so Joey decided to ask his own question. "What happened to the professor? I was told one brought you here." Walker shifted in his seat. "Yeah, he locked me in here so I'd… cool off. Then he came back and asked if I wanted to talk. When I didn't respond he just said he was going home and that I have the room to myself until I'm ready to go." Joey responded, "Ahh, I see." The boys once again sat in silence for a few long minutes.

"It's not fair…is it?" Joe was nearly whispering, but his voice grew louder as he continued, "I mean she is my girlfriend. It may sound juvenile, but that's all there is to it… she is **my** girlfriend. Not his. She chose me. What does he expect? I love Lauren and I'm supposed to just watch him steal her away? I came to surprise her by picking her up from her last college class and congratulate her and tell her how… proud… I am to have her by my side. And he steals it all away… I don't think I can ever forgive him." Joey tried to take a positive approach to cheer up Walker. "Joe, he's your best friend. You can't let some girl get between that." Walker immediately perked up with a comeback. He was angry. "No! I can! It's a respect thing, Joey! Darren does what he wants and doesn't account for how it impacts others… how it impacts people he calls his friends. Why would I want to be friends with someone like that? I don't trust him, and he could care less about how I feel. Obviously. He knew how much Lauren meant."

Joey couldn't help but see where Joe was coming from. "Well, then isn't Lauren as much to blame?" Joey watched as Walker got up and started pacing. "Oh, I hope you don't think I can ever look at Lauren the same. She hurt me the most. And for a second there… I actually thought she cared about me. Man, I'm done with this school, I'm done with these people. I can't wait for graduation and never having to see their faces again."

Joey was a little upset by Joe's anger; he hated to see his closest friends treat each other like this. "Well… you're still going camping with us, right? Come on Joe, at least for me and the other guys… it's our last big experience together. You have to come." Joe paused his pacing and leaned against a seat. "I don't know, man, I just want to move on. I don't think I can handle being around… everyone." Joey stood up and leaned against the seat next to Walker. "Just promise me you'll think about it. Now is not the time to let people stop you from enjoying yourself. Do it for you. We could all use a get away." Joey left Walker with that and smoothly exited the room, leaving Joe to finish thinking things through.

And now it was graduation day. The group had all tried to get the most out of the last week of the school year. They turned in final projects and papers, performed monologues and scenes, and took their exams. At the end of the exhausting week, it was finally time for Lauren, Moses, Dylan, Walker, Meredith, Julia, and Darren to graduate. They all gathered for group photos and congratulations during and after the ceremony. It was a bittersweet day.

Despite that week's drama, everyone was in good spirits. Joe avoided looking Darren or Lauren in the eye (he hadn't spoken to either of them since the incident, regardless of Lauren reaching out to him through the compilation of voicemails she had left on his phone asking him to just talk about it with her), but he too was enjoying his first day as a college graduate. To keep things tolerable, no one in the trio showed any particular interest in each other. Darren and Lauren entertained themselves with other friends and hardly even acknowledged each other besides when they shared secretive glances across the group when someone said something that they knew the other would find funny. They were alright, but knew there was no need to flash their relationship in front of Joe. After all, he had cooperated and Joey had finally gotten him to agree to coming on the camping trip.

They all spent the night celebrating with family and agreed to meet up Sunday to start their journey. They were going to a campsite a few hours outside of campus. This place was a private park that you have to sign up to camp in, but once you're in it's up to you to face the elements. No faucets, bathrooms, refrigerators, anything. They had to catch or bring their own food and find ways to bathe and shelter themselves. The group had originally intended only staying out there for a couple days, but their tickets to the Disney World were for Saturday and Sunday, so they would be camping until Friday morning when they would fly to Florida. It was just them versus nature for 6 days and 5 nights.

When Sunday rolled around the group took a few cars to the campgrounds. Holden drove the van with Meredith in shotgun. In the middle row sat Jaime and Britney, and in the back were Walker and Joey. The next car was driven by Tyler with Moses in the front seat. In the back Darren, Lauren, and Julia were all squished together. The final car was driven by Dylan. Brian Rosenthal sat up front, with Lily, Matt, and Nick in the backseat.

In the van things were already getting interesting. Brian and Meredith had taken to arguing about her parents. They had met Brian at graduation, ended up not being as happy with the dating decision as Meredith, and let Brian know.

"You're mother hates me, Mere! From the very start she didn't like me. How am I supposed to be comfortable in a relationship with you if I know I'll never have your parent's approval?"

"Brian, you're dating me. Not her. I'm a grown woman and I make my own decisions! Why are you making such a big deal out of this? It's gonna be okay."

"I just don't feel like I'm good enough for your fancy family. I don't fit in. Maybe we should reconsider us…"

They continued intensely discussing the topic up front while Brittany, Jaime, and Joey let the couple talk it out and played a game of 'never have I ever.' They asked Joe if he wanted in, but he turned them down to plug into his ipod and escape for a while. With worrying about finals and everything, he had put figuring out things with Lauren on the backburner temporarily. Since Lauren spent the week at home and he wanted to figure things out in person, he knew he couldn't do anything about it until the camping trip. Now he was collecting his feelings in his head and deciding what choices he needed to make for himself. He stared dreamingly out the window to the countryside around them, surprisingly excited for the week's upcoming adventures.

In car 2 everything was going swimmingly. They were all discussing their most embarrassing college memories. Lauren stayed cuddled up between Darren and Julia, enjoying the moments she had left with all her friends together and trying not to worry too much about Joe. She knew she had hurt him, something she sincerely never intended to do, but she also knew he didn't know the whole story. She decided he deserved to hear it all, and at the first chance he let her, she would explain things to him in hopes of retaining their friendship. Lauren had spent the past week alone with family and had had plenty of time to figure things out, but she really hadn't sat down and talked about it with anyone else. Her and Darren had spent Monday after noon getting him comfortable and looking lovingly into each other's eyes… but they hadn't talked much. Partly because Darren was still lacking the ability to form full sentences, and partly because there was nothing to say. They knew how each other felt and she knew Darren realized that their relationship could not move forward until they both sorted things out with Joe. They hadn't even kissed again since the incident. Lauren knew she had to talk it out with her friends, starting with Julia, then Joe, and ending with Darren. Then maybe she could move on from college without that bitter taste in her mouth.

In car 3, the boys were already in cahoots for their next big musical project. They internalized all of their inside jokes and tried to brainstorm an awesome story around them. In the backseat, Lily had fallen asleep against Matt's shoulder. He made sure no one got too loud as to not wake up his girl.

After they arrived at the campsite and got all checked in they gathered for a quick meeting before heading out. Usually Holden took charge of those sort of things, but he was still a little shaken about his argument with Meredith that had asked Joey to do it. Meredith and Brian hadn't solved their issues, but they decided they'd talk about them later when they could be alone. Joey hopped up on a rock and started his speech.

"Hi guys! Okay, so the owners have sorta given us the recommended route of travel for this week. We hike a few hours a day to get to each place and then we can camp out there and have food and swim and whatever else we find to do. This place is known for being remarkably beautiful, so we're supposed to be taking that in and connecting with our inner nature. It's sorta a retreat for us to say our goodbyes and just spend time together in a beautiful place with no distractions of technology or the media. And if anyone gets hurt or anything goes wrong, we have a walky-talky so that we can reach the office and they'll send out emergency help. Otherwise, it's up to us! So today we're heading south along the river until we end up at level grounds to set up camp and have lunch. Let's head out!"

With that they all turned and headed to the river. It was sure to be a trip they'd never forget.


End file.
